The New Heroes
by Cupcake Narcissist
Summary: ONGOING It started off like your average day, hanging out with friends, getting in a group detention and finding out your teachers are actually vicious evil monsters from the tales of Greek mythology. Notice how I said normal? Well, this is daily stuff for half-bloods. Welcome to me and Kaylee's life.
1. 1, Lyrians POV

LYRIAN'S POV-

I stared at the chalk board; letters swirled and danced around creating weird words that made no sense to me. I grumbled something to my friend who was next to me and she giggled a little, causing our science teacher's fiery brown eyes to glare upon us. I stared back unfazed, until he returned to his meaningless babble. On and on he went until finally the class was saved by the bell. We were the first to leave the room.

"Did you see his face? Pfft!" Kaylee laughed, running her hand through her reddish-brown hair. She frequently dyed it, claiming that she hated the colour brown, but within hours, the brown would show even though she had dyed it.

I laughed, despite my fear of Mr. Morrison's glaring brown eyes. He would definitely do something murderous to me later on. Like triple my month's homework. Sometimes, I wish I was in control of things, but then I have to think rationally... Think first, act later- and do not act like your idiot moronic mother.

"Let's hurry and meet the others and tell them about Mr. Moron's glaring. I'll bet they'll find it even more amusing." I said to Kaylee who laughed, and began to weave paper into an origami crane. That was just Kaylee; she could never keep her hands still. She was always creating random things out of anything she could get her hands on; I was used to it so I never said anything though. Another thing that was odd about Kaylee was that she had one green eye and one blue eye, which you wouldn't really notice unless you look directly at her.

Me on the other hand, I had green eyes with that odd brightness that reminded me of lightning and I had really long, and really wavy black hair. Even if some thought it looked pretty, I felt like I was wearing a mop, a thick one may I add.

We survived the walk down the locker hallway without being thrown into a locker by our hair. Unfortunately, the bullies still existed, but my common sense told me to veer away from any washrooms within vicinity of the school.

We opened the door to the learning centre and met up with our other weird friends, Raven and Safdeisha- silent f. Let me give you the basics of them, Raven was a very distracted girl with shoulder-length black hair and grey eyes. Safdeisha (Remember the silent f) had dark brown hair with green streaks, that she tried to convince us were natural, but we were very sure they were not unless she was made out of mould- ew.

-ONE SHOT TIME!-

(Or had snakes for hair?)

(Kaylee what the fuck are you doing in my head?)

(I made a thought transferring machine!)

(GET THE FUCK OUT!)

Raven stared at us calmly, she was trying to read a book about goats, but being dyslexic like me and Kaylee, it was something really hard to do. She looked frustrated and she glanced at the teacher in the corner. Mrs. Sphine was a mean old bat, even if she was in her thirties. I hated her and she hated me, but a lot of people seemed to hate me so I normally just deal with it.

"Hey guys!" Safdeisha grinned at us, using her loud voice that seemed to echo around the room and Mrs. Sphine growled at us, her pointy nose scrunching up in disgust. She muttered something about having to teach imbeciles.

I gave her a glare when she wasn't looking at us, but she quickly turned around and caught me. "Problem Ms. Connors?" She said in her high pitched squeaky voice. She sounded like broken breaks on a bike.

"No, of course not Mrs. Sphine, there is no problem." I said seriously, but she didn't buy it, not one bit at all.

"yea, everythings fine." Kaylee said under her breath.

She turned on her heel and left the room; I looked at my friends and rolled my eyes. "Man she is one... ugh." I couldn't find the word for her.

"I hate how she teaches our religions class, like really she can barely hold her temper in for half a minute." Kaylee sighed, letting strands of dyed red hair into her face. I carefully drew a picture of how ugly Mrs. Sphine was, I mean, I could imagine her as one of those damned ugly monsters she tells us about in Greek mythology.

While me, Kaylee and Safdeisha began to eat, Raven just stared. It could be rather unnerving... and creepy, but she was just socially awkward. I slowly chewed on a croissant and stared back at Raven.

"So Lyra, how did Mr. Morrison treat you today?" Raven asked curiously in her nonchalant tone.

"Probably like dirt on a window again." Safdeisha said pointedly, light dancing in her dark brown eyes.

"More or less, I guess he did." Kaylee agreed.

"He did." I nodded, ending the topic smoothly.

"I swear, if you keep pissing off your teachers, you'll both get detentions, you've been lucky so far, but c'mon." Raven smiled.

"Speaking about detentions, all four of you will join me afterschool- We have called all of your parents, except you Ms. Safdeisha, we've spoken to the head of Marikina adoption home. All of your parents." He added, looking directly at Kaylee who swallowed her root beer agitatedly.

"Whatever, sir!" Safdeisha laughed heartily.

"That's another half an hour on to your detentions." Mr. Morrison grinned an ugly and very scary smile.

"That's kinda ug-" Kaylee dived over the table and onto Safdeisha, she screamed as they both landed on the floor, watching Mr. Morrison's retreating figure.

"Guys, they're calling my parents. Ya know... My stepdad?" Kaylee said fearfully, getting off of Safdeisha, who drew in a sharp breath of pain.

"Right, what are you gonna do?" Raven asked worriedly.

"Not go home, I mean, I can't exactly go home now that Mr. Arse has decided to call them..." Kaylee frown teary-eyed.

"Let's go and breathe some fresh air." I smiled at her, trying to get her to take the hint. Luckily, she nodded and stood up.

"Okay, sure, leave us, that's nice..." Safdeisha pouted.

"Sorry." I apologized curtly, and walked out of the room. Detention, even though I had no idea what I'd done, clever Lyra, I thought to myself with a grumble

The walk to get outside was pretty interesting. A group of female bullies, most plastered orange with foundation to cover scars and zits. I guess I could be considered lucky because my skin seemed to be in good condition. I glared at them and told them to get a life and y'know f-word off, because, I could not be bothered with them at this precise time. Kaylee was upset, and I knew why.

The first time I had been to Kaylee's house, her parents seemed nice, but I accidently dropped my fork when I was eating and... Well, needless to say they didn't enjoy that too much, even though I apologized. Her stepdad began to shout at me, and me? Of course I shouted back. I don't hold grudges for that long, but I do stick up for myself. Hehe.

Anyway, I'm just gonna say that Kaylee's parents? Don't mess with them, Mr. And Mrs. Winnet are not very nice people. Luckily Kaylee is though!

So, we finally got outside, and it was colder than I thought it was. It must've been around 4 degrees, in SUMMER, AMERICA. Jeez, whoever controls the weather needs to think this through.

"Well, what now, I'm not going home. Is your mother home afterschool?" Kaylee asked me, her blue eye and her green eye staring into my own.

"Yes she is, and I guess we wait outside until bell goes." I said lamely, chewing on my sleeves. "You need time alone?" I asked her.

"That might be nice..." Kaylee smiled, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.

"Alright, see you in math." I said, walking away, still chewing on my sleeve.

I walked around the school building, and listened to the kids around. Secrets, gossip and insults were being thrown around all across the school. I was glad I only had three friends in this school. To me, they were my only way of keeping sane.

I heard voices I hadn't heard before, and it triggered my more curious side. I stuck to the wall; there were three voices, two boys and a girl. I listened closely and caught a few bits and pieces of what they were saying.

"...Are you sure Grover? We can't head into a school full of mortals and terrorize the place!" The girl's voice said seriously. Mortals? And I thought I was crazy.

"...I'm positive; I smelt something in there... Well, I smelt something that wasn't quite right. And I'm sure it wasn't..." He trailed off and I heard sniffs.

"What do you smell, Grover?" The other boy asked, in a New York accent-Yes, I could tell, I've seen enough movies- and I heard a metallic sound of metal graze against the wall. I froze in place, fear gripped at me and I turned the corner behind me. I knew they had looked over to try and find me, because I heard the girl sigh in relief. Who did they think I was? And what kind of name was Grover anyway?

I decided to take my cue and leave but the 'mortal' thing kinda freaked me out. I guess I was way too mundane for these things; these people were probably escapes from a mental prison, right. I should probably tell a teacher, but then again, they'd think I was crazy.

I'd settled on keeping it to myself unless I ever run into them again. A safe bet would tell me they probably won't leave until they figure out who was dropping eaves on their conversation. Wow, that was a weird way of saying eavesdropping.

After this lovely fiasco, I took a bite of my sandwich while resting against a tree in the school yard. A huge gust of wind blew it right out of my hands. I saw a stick move in the tree, and a quick shade of a cerulean sweater. I stared for a moment, but then remembered my sandwich, I frowned. Now I'd be hungry in math.

I decided to head back as the bell rang, oh god, how I wish I wasn't completely mortal.


	2. 2, Kaylee's POV

"You need time alone?" Lyra asked, chewing on her sleeve.

"That might be nice..." I answered, trying to hold a smile, but I don't think she bought it.

"Alright, see you in math." She started to leave, still chewing on her sleeves. She disappeared around one of the school corners; no doubt she'd be eavesdropping on people.

I too turned and left, but towards the tiny forest that lined along the school yard, I always knew I could go there to think.

"What the hell am I going to do? They called my step father! Now I really can't go home, I'll get beaten all night and morning for this." I shivered, looking down at my arms. They were scarred from countless belt whippings, wall shoving and punches.

I stared at the palms of my hands, two white scars travelled down the soft pale skin, I'm glad they were well hidden because they looked just like any other line on a palm.

I don't remember much about the day I got them, the only thing I'm sure of is that my Mom's still with that asshole. I shook my head, and looked up. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blue Toyota Prius pull up in the school parking lot, the horn honking loudly.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" I broke into a run and hid deep among the trees.

I slammed my fists into the nearest tree trunk and grimaced, at least I relieved some stress, built up anger and some tears. "What am I gonna do!?" I moaned, leaning into the tree with a sigh.

"Hey, hey, hey, what did the poor tree ever do to you?" A voice said, and I looked up to see a dark figure on one of the tree branches opposite me. I pushed myself off the tree and turned to face the- uh, boy?

"Who in the hell are you?" I stepped forward, analyzing this rather cute guy who just happened to be in the same part of the forest as me and at the same time. How odd.

"Let's just say... I'm a friend." His words flowed out of his mouth like soft velvet. For some reason I felt calmer.

"Okay... Friend, can I know your name?" I leaned on the tree, waiting for his answer.

"Not quite yet, love." He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to his thin body it smelt like dirt, and yet like flowers too.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" I looked at him, accusation flaring up in my tone.

"Hush." He takes a step back, still holding me close though, and if anything, his grip got tighter.

Suddenly, his embrace loosened and we were standing in the back entry into the school. I felt dumbstruck.

"What? B-but I thought we were... How did we get to...?" I stuttered, confusedly.

He just laughed and then leaned forward and pecked my forehead lightly.

"Wha..?" I managed to squeak out.

"See ya soon..." He grinned, "Kaylee."

I widened my eyes, blinked and he had vanished. Well that was weird... I put my hand up, touching the spot on my forehead where he had kissed me, wondering why he didn't tell me who he was. This, I gotta tell Lyra.

I took one last glance at the school yard before turning and opening the door to hell. Uh, I mean school and then I start towards the math room. I sighed, math with Mr. Nable... He's always asking us riddles and telling us bad jokes; Like really bad jokes, like she was only a whiskey-maker, but he loved her still.

I see Lyra turn the corner, and caught up to her. Her bluish-green eyes brightened up. "Hey Kaylee" She smiled at me I knew she was about to ask how I was feeling.

"Heyo." I answer and she looked at me funny.

"You okay?" See, I told you she'd say that.

"Yes actually, and I need to tell you something." I said, looking around.

"What?" She asked, curiosity brightening her already bright eyes.

"I'll tell you in a bit." I said, noting how many people were looking at us, probably because of Lyra's hair.

"All right then." She smiles, pushing a strand of her super wavy, super long and super black hair behind her ear.

"Hello Laylee, Kyra" Mr. Nable says in his usual joking voice.

"Ey." We both answer in unison, walking past him and slumping into our usual seats at the back of the room.

Math is my best subject, surprisingly. I'm not good at angles, but I'm great at the Pythagorean Theorem, it's my strong suit.

"Okay let's start off our questions with Kaylee!" He points at me.

"Huh?" I looked up from my random doodles, most of them of birds with long necks.

"What is the Pythagorean Theorem?" Mr. Nable asked, his eyebrows rising to see if I was paying attention.

"a2 + b2 = c2" I replied instantly, then remembered, "Then square root for C."

"Very good!" He beamed at me; I could've sworn Lyra rolled her eyes.

Raven suddenly burst into the room, gasping for breath. "Sorry I'm late, I was at LC." She handed Mr. Nable the late slip and rushed over to me and Lyra, collapsing into her seat.

"You were more than late, you were missing." Lyra laughed, nudging raven with her elbow. We start laughing, but something was different.

"Hang on, where's Safdeisha?" I looked at Raven questioningly.

"Wait, what?" Raven whipped her head around, her grey eyes wide and her black hair flying round wildly. "She was right behind me!" She uses her hands in a wide gesture.

The door opens and Mr. Nable sighs and turns around to look at who had walked in. "Hey, uh, sorry I'm late and stuff. Mr. Morrison was yelling at me for no reason... Again." Safdeisha throws her late slip onto his desk and takes her seat at the other end of the table next to Raven.

"Why was he yelling at you for no reason?" Mr. Nable asked curiously.

"That would be because he is an asshole." Safdeisha blurts out, causing Raven, Lyra and I to start laughing hysterically. Raven didn't seem to notice when she elbowed her goat book off the table, I would've said something but a boy picked it up.

"You dropped your book Raven." He said, passing it to her.

"Oh thanks." She made to grab it from him, but he'd already seen the cover.

"What the hell, you're reading a book about goats?" He laughed, and then I remembered who he was, one of those popular jocks who hated us.

"What a freak!" His friend laughed.

"Why don't you all shut the hell up?" I snapped with a snarl on my face.

"Kaylee, please calm down." Lyra whispered into my ear, then remarked to us, "Hang on, is it getting hotter in here or what?" She looks at me.

"It's just you. And what I wanted to tell you earlier was that when I was wandering around the school at lunch was that I met this guy, tree boy..."

"Tree boy?" The three asked me almost exactly in unison.

"Wow stereo, and yes, tree boy. He just showed up randomly when I was walking." I breathe deeply.

"Weird." Lyra and Raven look at each other.

"Is he cute?" Safdeisha asked with a huge smile.

"Yes, yes he is." I grinned, remembering his slightly crooked smile, that's when the bell rang. We jumped to our feet and packed our bags, walking quickly to the door.

"Oh great religions class with Mrs. Sphine, just purrfect, it's Christmas come early." I grumbled.

"More like scrooge reborn." Lyra muttered under her breath.

We all laughed, Lyra somehow always managed to hit the punch line correctly... Well, most of the time.

We walked down the many halls, then up a few stair cases to get to the third floor, where the evil teacher of evilness was waiting for us.

"You are all late." She said, her nose turning upright in proper mannerly disgust, we followed her with our heads drooped in mock shame.


	3. 3, Lyrian's POV

Detention with bloodthirsty teachers from hell, or somewhere... Lyrian's POV.

We walked into the classroom with our heads down, trying to avoid the glaring eyes of Mrs. Sphine. If only she taught math instead of Religions, it would've made more sense. I looked around and saw the many heads of students turn up and stare at us. For some reason, it made me feel a little self-conscious. When Mrs. Sphine coughed, they all returned to what they were doing.

"As punishment for being late to my class, you will all separate into different spots in the class, not one of you will communicate to each other." She sneered; her eyes seemed to look right into my soul. I was kind-of scared, but then again, what's the worst she could do? A teacher is really, only just a teacher.

Kaylee walked to her seat in one of the two front corners, I took one of the back corners to try and escape from being the odd one out. I looked around awkwardly, looking at Raven, Kaylee and Safdeisha all in turn. They did not look back.

Today's lesson, was once again ancient Greek religion, and about the many tales of monsters and how the heroes would defeat them. I stared numbly at the blackboard, not really caring. I knew all of this stuff already.

"Now, I have a riddle for all of you. Whoever guesses it correctly will get two bonus marks." Mrs. Sphine made it look easy, but what she wrote in her writing, was kind of odd. But I knew the answer right away, don't ask me how as it took my brain five minutes to read the damned thing.

_I'm the part of the bird that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. What am I?_

I stared at the riddle, I would never, ever say it out loud, Mrs. Sphine would sneer and say that it took me to long and so I wouldn't get the bonus marks. I watched the clock instead; it was sort-of entertaining I guess. I fiddled around with the pencil in my hand and eventually snapped it. Mrs. Sphine continued her mad rambling at the class, calling us all first graders because we couldn't solve a stupid riddle. Wow.

She then taught us about the Sphinx and the other monsters that could be killed only 'indirectly'. I bet a million bucks you could defeat a Sphinx, just avoid the lion loins, the great bird wings and whatever else. Yuck, I think I'll save that for Hercules.

I disliked the word monsters anyway, so I just zoned out as our evil teacher decided to make our life even harder.

"Okay class, into groups now. Pick a number."

Perfect, just freaking perfect, now I could be claimed national know-it-all about Greek mythology. Freaking hell.

I walked up to the front of the classroom at my turn, and reached my hand into the bucket, I pulled out a square sheet of paper with a scratchy four written on it. I sighed, heading to the seat at the back again until she told us to sit in our groups.

Mrs. Sphine wrote the rules of what we would be doing in our groups then told us to get into our groups, my group had a really weird kid who claimed he saw ghosts every day, and lived in a haunted mansion. I glared at the Mrs. Sphine the whole time, but she wasn't unnerved at all, in fact I think I pushed her to be even more horrible.

"There will be NO communicating with other groups during this activity. You will all be assigned ONE Greek monster and will do individual research with the help of your group members." She instructed, her lips were pulled tight and she brought a bag around with random monsters inside it. The odd kid in our group pulled out our monster, in large scrawl print, the ghost kid read it out loud.

"The Mormo?" He looked at everyone around the table, I looked at him with a plainest face I could manage and he quickly looked away. I was used to that, no one seemed to be able to look into my eyes for too long.

"The Mormo was a vampire-like monster who would bite bad children and steal them from their parents." I said boredly with a yawn.

"Correct Mrs. Connors, you're good at something after all." She smiled at me, but I knew she was just pretending, she was a good actor sometimes.

"Whatever." I said, disrespecting her entirely. I chuckled to myself when she huffed and turned. Kaylee grinned at me, she'd heard everything.

"Hey freak, will you concentrate for just one moment?" I snapped, turning to face the girl at the end of the table. She did not just say that.

"Oh too bad, you aren't deaf after all." She sneered, clipping a flimsy burette in her hair. I slammed the table and she screamed as sparks flung at her finger tips. My eyes widened and she stared at me, her blue eyes staring at me in horror.

"You freaking weirdo!" She stood up and ran out of the room. What did I do? I slammed the table because she angered me, I didn't mean to give her an electric shock and I doubt that was even me anyhow. Urgh, today is definitely weirder than it's supposed to be. I watched a Mrs. Sphine's face turn angry and she looked like she was about to kill me. I still did not know what was happening.

I looked away and began to write as much as I could manage about the stupid Greek monster. Time finally sped up and it was five minutes until the bell rang. Phew.

I quickly walked over to Raven, "Hey, how boring was class for you?" I asked her, a yawn bursting from my mouth.

"It was so-so, personally, you provided my group entertainment." She laughed; her grey eyes looked behind me at someone. I –very reluctantly- turned and met Safdeisha's face very close to my own. I sighed in relief.

"Well, we have detention now... Goodbye freedom!" She moaned, sitting on the table with a pout. I tilted my head and let Kaylee rush to my side excitedly.

"So, how about we go get some food after the detention?" She beamed at us, I just stared.

"Sure, I'll pay." I said with a half-smirk.

"Alright, let's do it!"Safdeisha smiled, she looked around distracted. Raven stared at me,

"How did you make that girl cry?" Raven asked curiously.

"I didn't." I raised an eyebrow giving her a'question-me-more-and-this-may-be-your-last-breat h' look.

"Oh right..." She laughed lightly.

I rolled my eyes and fiddled with my slightly dampened sleeves, chewing on them again. The bell rang loudly on the wall above us. I glared at it as the sound reverberated through my skull. Safdeisha gave a little squeal of pain, Raven didn't budge and Kaylee seemed to be used to it.

I gave a smile, feeling my cheeks grow a little sore from chuckling. I looked at the floor, then up at my three best friends. "Let's get this over with shall we?" They nodded at me and we all sat down, splitting up into twos, me and Kaylee sat down on the left side of the room, Raven and Safdeisha took their seats on the right. I really hated detentions...

-~oOo~-

The detention started off naturally, lines, glares and the throwing of paper aeroplanes across the room to each other. Kaylee and I wrote notes to each other, but she looked rather pale. The two teachers looked at their feet, waiting at the door as if blocking an entry out into reality.

_Something doesn't feel right, _She wrote onto a piece of paper, folded it and threw it my way. The sound of it collide with my desk seemed to annoy Mrs. Sphine, and she strutted up to us, snatched the note into her claw-like hands and threw it out into an already full garbage can. Kaylee looked fearfully at the teacher and began desperately folding a sheet of paper.

It ended up as an origami crane, but something was different about it. When she threw it at Raven and Safdeisha, it actually FLEW. It looked... alive.

Its wings fluttered gently, and glided across the room effortlessly, Raven caught it as quiet as she could. She slowly unfolded the paper and stared at it, giving us a nod when she had caught on to the message, she was about to write a reply but Mr. Morrison turned around, his beady eyes were gleaming a bright red, and I fell backwards off my chair and hit my head on the table behind me. Well done me. When I looked back, his eyes were back to that dull brown. Scary that is.

"Mrs. Connors, is there a problem?" Mr. Morrison asked me. Was that a growl I heard?

No, it couldn't have been, I'm getting paranoid. "No, of course not sir, there is nothing wrong here." I lied, getting back to line 20 out of 700, which was pointless as I had written everything entirely backwards or sideways...

Time slowed down until minutes seemed like hours. I glared at the paper, I was now on line 25 and it was getting harder to concentrate due to my ADHD. The words and letters spun in loops across the page. Kaylee was having the same problem and so was Raven by the looks of it.

I put my pencil down and laid back on my seat, Mr. Morrison did not look happy, in fact, he looked rather murderous.

He approached me, his brown eyes turning red like igniting earth. I cringed, noticing how pointier his teeth were.

"Mrs. Connors, I suggest you get back to writing your lines, or you shall regret it." He grumbled in his annoying voice. Me being me, I immediately retaliated, but I shouldn't have, because my life took a huge turn after that.

"Oh yeah, what will you do? Your old, you're ugly and you are just about the worst teacher ever." I laughed, and watched his eyes narrow; his skin looked like it had split at his forehead. I widened my eyes, as I looked into his bright red eyes.

"So be it, Lyrian Connors, you had better be prepared to draw your last breath." Mr. Morrison grinned, and his smile got wider and wider until it showed two neat rows of fangs, longer than a foot each. I screamed, and was thrown backwards into the wall.

Mrs. Sphine also began to change; her ugly face began to go back in time until she had the pretty face of a young woman in her twenties. I gasped, noticing how her body had managed to turn into a lion, and she sprouted the wings of a great bird. Mr. Morrison also grew wings, but his were liquid-like and leathery-looking. Ugh. I really need to stop insulting my teachers.

"You've been very naughty children." The bat-like monster flashed his foul teeth at us all in sort of smile or grin. I really need to remember that I'm in a life or death situation...

"Kaylee, Move it!" I shouted, and she ducked just in time as Mr. Morrison had tried to claw her head open, flying right over her. He landed next to what used to be my religions teacher. I stared, open-mouthed in wonder and fear.

A knock came at the door, and everybody stared at it. The exit to freedom, if only I could run for it!

"Ugh, who is it!?" Mrs. Sphine's voice hissed

"I smell more half-bloods." The science monster said, and a young boy walked in. He must've only been sixteen, and he was going to die!

"What do you want?" said the growl of our ex. Science teacher.

"Sorry, I was wondering whether you'd be interested in taking a quick survey." He asked cluelessly, holding up a bronze-like pen and a clipboard. Could he not see the weird monsters in front of him? I saw a girl suddenly appear behind Raven and Safdeisha and point at us while whispering something

to them, they crawled over to us as quiet as they could manage, and the girl vanished again. She reappeared right by my side, and I took a second glance at her before getting under the table and watching the boy closely.

"Just out of curiosity, would you consider yourself to be an evil mythological Greek monster?" The boy asked, uncapping his pen, which suddenly turned into a three foot long sword. My mouth gaped wide open again and I stared, wide-eyed as the boy grinned at the two monsters.

Mrs. Sphine shrieked, trying to claw at the boy, but he skilfully dodged it, with a parrying move to his left as Mr. Morrison took a swipe at him too. I watched in utter terror.

"He's gonna die!" I said, trying to get out from under the table. The girl put her hand on my shoulder and shook her head.

"He knows what he's doing." She said knowingly, a twinkle in her grey eyes.

I looked at my friends, Raven was silent, and was looking around carefully as if trying to find an escape. Safdeisha was having a panic attack and Kaylee was trying to help her. I sighed and looked at the girl who was keeping a close eye on the sword boy.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Annabeth Chase and-"

But something cut her off, a window smashed and I heard a huge slam onto one of the tables by the sword kid. The person who landed on the table looked almost normal, curly brunette hair and brown eyes that looked at the monsters fearfully. Note how I said 'almost normal'? Well, that's because he was half goat. Two furry legs and two little horns poking through his curls... Well, I guess I just naturally accepted what was happening. Partly because I didn't want to have a panic attack like Safdeisha, and also because both of my teachers were now monsters- well, were monsters the whole time. So, just when I was about to open my mouth to ask what in the heck was going on, a hand covered my mouth.

"Hey Perce, how's it going-" But something cut the goat boy off.

Raven had flown from her hiding spot under the table and latched herself onto the goat boy. His eyes widened and both of them fell to the floor with a sickening crack. I winced on impact.

Raven had a goat obsession, we couldn't be sure why, but then again, none of us knew what was going on right now anyway. Kaylee seemed excited now, and Safdeisha? Well, she had a neutral expression playing on her face. Well, it's better than a panic attack I'm guessing.

I watched as the 'Perce' kid raised his sword, jumping in front of the goat boy, I saw the two monster teachers hiss angrily at even the sight of sword. Well then... Our ex. Science teacher looked directly at me and licked his front fangs hungrily. I recoiled back into the blonde girl, shaking slightly.

She smiled faintly, "Don't be afraid of the Bogeyman."

"He's not the Bogeyman." I gave a frown.

"No, no he's not." She agreed, and then focused on the kid fighting the monsters, and her eyes narrowed. He seemed to be getting slightly tired by fighting the monsters on his own, and his accomplice was trying to unlock a wild Raven from his legs. He was definitely struggling but seeing as how Raven was glued to him, and was reluctant to get off, the Perce kid was definitely going to die. I had a plan to get Raven off of him though.

I dived across the floor, and flew straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room. I reached into Raven's bag and pulled out her goat book.

"Hey Raven! I am about to burn your goat encyclopaedia." I laughed evilly and watched her jump of the goat hybrid. She came after me now. I knew better than to touch Raven's things without her permission, but I had no choice.

Before she got to me, I threw the book straight at Mr. Moron and it struck –very hard- into one of his fangs, ripping it straight out of his gums. I grimaced at his scream as blood trickled from his blackish gums. The fang had gone straight through his long devil-like tongue. He screeched even louder and then Perce took his chances, thrusting his long sword into the creatures skull.

That was the end of Mr. Morrison the vampire demon/monster under the bed as he had exploded into a big cloud of yellow vapour and just to add- it stank.

The goat boy emptied some water bottles and let their contents spill onto the floor, he grinned at me, but then stopped seeing my confused expression. You'll see, he mouthed at me.

Sure enough, as Mrs. Sphine-monster-incarnate pounced on Perce, the water that was on the floor, had pushed the monster off him and made her fly out of one of the many windows. I stared, horrified but glad. The three strangers, Annabeth, Perce and goat boy, had rescued our lives. I nodded at them.

"Thanks." I said, with only the smallest hint of a smile. Because, my head was still trying to process what had just happened. I sighed, and collected my bag.

"We would've introduced ourselves earlier today had we've known there were monsters too." Annabeth apologized. "This is Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, and I'm Annabeth chase. You three are demi-gods or more commonly known as half bloods, and we were sent to retrieve you." She said seriously, then shouldered her pack and left. I followed Percy and Grover too, and then I remembered something. These were the three who I had eavesdropped on earlier, I should've known, but my fate had an odd way of working inside my head.

We followed the three out into the school yard and listened to them debate on how to get back to 'camp'. I stared and then when they'd finally decided, Percy turned to us.

"We're going to split you up, one of you will go with Annabeth, likewise with Grover and two of you will come with me understood?" We nodded, but I sensed hesitation in Percy's voice, like he wasn't entirely sure of himself. We had no choice but to follow these three now, because, I did not fancy going back into school and getting eaten alive. Thanks, but no thanks.


	4. 4, Kaylee's POV

"I'm guessing something was supposed to happen?" I said, looking up at Annabeth.

"Yeah... What the heck..." Annabeth looked at me; I could tell she was just as confused (or more) as I am.

"Dropped call?" Percy asked, resting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, her grey eyes looked him over.

"Yeah, I guess we gotta just find another way to camp?" She answered, a smile painted onto her face.

"Okay, I'll see if I can call Blackjack and his friends, Grover- you can take Raven to her house to get her stuff, Annabeth you can take Safdeisha and I'll take Lyra and Kaylee." He instructed to us, a soft determination in his tone. "Meet back here in two hours." Percy looked at us all bright and confident but he seemed to waver only slightly, as if he was worried.

"Maybe I should take Lyra and Kaylee..." Annabeth looked at Safdeisha, her stormy eyes clouded with reluctance.

"Why?" Percy turned to look at Annabeth, his smile fading a little.

"Well, I'll take Kaylee and Lyra, Grover can take Raven and Safdeisha and you could wait for Blackjack and look for Nico." Annabeth looked at her feet awkwardly and then back at Percy.

"Nico's back at camp, c'mon if we don't hurry we'll arrive at camp late." Percy turned to face Lyra and me again, and then we began our journey to our homes.

"Okay, whose house are we going to first?" Percy asked us, and Lyra looked at me, her greenish bluish eyes stared me down.

"Lyra's, it'll take longer to get there than my tree house..." I said quickly, not looking at either of them in the eyes.

"Kaylee's right." Lyra smiled at me and I tried to return it as best as I could manage.

After what seemed like two hours of walking in silence (okay, overstatement, it was actually two minutes) we arrive at Lyra's house... Well, her mansion. It was huge, at least three stories high and way longer than four houses long. It was painted white and it stayed white, and the fountain in the front lawn had been turned off. Lyra's stepdad was one of those 'cheapskates'.

Lyra and I do what we always do when she needs to get into her house without anyone knowing. We all crept close to the wall and hid in the shades of the many shrubs. Birds chirped every now and again if we got to close to their nest. I looked at Lyra for a moment before we approached the eastern wall of the mansion. Percy followed behind us, confused about why we didn't just enter through the front door. But then, he didn't know Lyra's step dad like I did.

We looked at the pipe; it travelled all the way up to the window to Lyra's room. The window was always open, because Lyra normally always snuck into her house. I interlocked my fingers and leaned over so she could get a boost upwards; she climbed up onto the lower balcony and gave me a nod, followed by a cascade of her silky black hair.

She then leaped onto the pipe, and began to climb –monkey like- up the building, she could've past for Spiderman apart from her hair was way too long and black, maybe cat woman? Anyway, she finally climbed into the window and gave us the thumbs up.

"Okay lets go and get my stuff, that way we won't waste anymore time." I said, pulling on Percy's arm to get his attention.

"Okay..." He said, still watching as Lyra disappeared into her room.

"She'll be fine; we've done this millions of times before, even blindfolded as night!" I tugged on his arm, urging him to move.

"We should've brought Nico and then someone could've stayed with each of you." He sighed worriedly and turned to walk alongside me.

We walked through the trees in Lyra's backyard, I glanced up every few seconds, hoping to see tree boy.

"So where is this tree house, then?" Percy looked at me, his eyes completely lost.

"Right over here!" I smiled, pointing up at my make-shift home.

"Wow, okay, hurry!" He told me as I climbed up the tree and pulled myself up onto the small area, it took me a while as my hands were sore from writing those lines... I grabbed a bag, and began shoving my things into it.

"Oh where is it!?" I said out loud. I couldn't find my favourite jacket, or my Panic! At the disco sweater. Where did I...

"Ha!" I snatched the jacket and the sweater and shoved them into my bag also. I glanced around at the small kindle fireplace; the egg I had found was resting in its nest of coals and embers, something inside me told me I have to take it with me.

I grabbed the closest blanket and folded it in half. I then reach into the egg's nest and pulled it out to place it in the blanket. I cradled it carefully like I was lulling a baby to sleep. I took one glimpse around before I threw water onto the fire pit and placed the egg into my bag. I then took one last glance around before I climbed down the tree.

As soon as I stepped off the tree and onto firm ground, a vibe hits me, a strong one, it felt like a brick was weighing down my gut.

"Something's wrong." I turned and faced Percy, who was staring at something on the ground intently.

"What's up?" He looked at me, his eyes wide.

"Is that a crane?" I walked up to the thing on the ground, and sure enough, it was indeed a crane.

_Go and help your friend_, I heard in my head.

"Are you talking to me?" I said in my mind, crouching down to be closer to the strange yet beautiful bird. Its long neck made it look elegant, but its eyes looked like eyes that could scorch your soul.

Yes, it's a gift from your true father, now, stop wasting your time talking to me and go help Lyra! The crane yells into my thoughts.

"Yes sir." I said slightly sarcastically. I stared at Percy and stood up; he looked at me and smiled slightly like he knew what I was thinking.

"Let's go get Lyra!" I said, smiling back at him before we start running.

As we reach the edge of the property I hear the yelling. Percy and I hopped the fence and ran to help Lyra get away from...

"Shit!" I yelled, trying to push myself farther so I could run faster.

"What?" Percy yelled trying to keep up with me. "Is it a monster?" He reaches for the pen-sword in his pocket.

"No, worse, it's her stepfather." I said, panic choking my voice.

"Oh crap." Percy looked at the two figures we were headed towards.

"Get the hell away from her!" I yelled loudly, as I slowed down to a rather fast paced walk.

"Ah, Katherine Lee, how wonderful to see you."

My own stepfather stepped out from the shadows, a cruel delight in his eyes. I hid behind Percy, who tensed up and uncapped his pen, prepared for the worse.


	5. 5 part 1: Lyrian's POV

Kaylee interlocked her fingers and bent over, waiting for me to climb on. I stared at Percy, he seemed confused so I smiled at him and placed a foot onto Kaylee's palms. I waited for three seconds before Kaylee pushed off and I leaped upwards and swung myself onto the lower balcony. I grinned to myself and looked at the pipes above me; they were still within my reach. I hopped onto the banisters and tightly gripped the bigger pipe with both of my hands.

I tried to put as much strength into my jump off the banister, and I managed to find footing on one of the lower pipes, and I began to climb skilfully up the wall and I tried not to get distracted. I did look down a few times and saw Percy's face plastered with worry, I chuckled to myself and leaped onto my window sill, feeling just like Spiderman. I won't lie to you; I almost fell down enough times.

I entered my bedroom, checking it out for any disturbance –I have a right to be cautious y'know- and then I landed quietly on my bed and took a whiff of my own scent, hey, it smelt better than the rest of my house!

I bent over and looked at the darkness beneath me, pulling out a large bag from under the bed. It was already packed and full of clothes and everything I'd need to get to this 'camp'. I quickly packed a hairbrush and anything else I could fit in there. Then I noticed a tiny box on my bed.

It was small and wrapped with a soft sparkly tissue paper. I thought I may as well pack it in my bag as well as the note tied to it. I had no time to read it right now, maybe later if I wasn't dead.

I swung the bag onto my back and crept back onto the bed. I gave one last look at my room, elegant crème walls and a nice chocolate coloured carpet. I would miss it, kind of. I watched my pet goldfish, Leonardo, swim around his bowl casually. Maybe it was my idiocy, but I had to feed him before I left. I probably shouldn't have actually fed him the WHOLE darn shaker of fish food, but, I was feeling rather generous today, so I thought why not.

With a nod at my shimmering buddy, I heard a faint voice inside my head. What did it say? Alright, that's creepy. I stared at Leonardo, my eyes wide with wonder, but it was cut short.

"Hello Lyrian."

I froze in place. "Jim." I said in a high pitched voice, with a teeny tiny nod, bubbles came from the fish bowl. His baby blue eyes stared me down, he looked like he'd just come out of rehab, his scraggly brown hair was greasy and in need of a wash, which was funny, because he was a millionaire. He was never invited to any fancy parties though, as he was not the nicest, or the most civilized.

I stared back at him, determined not to lose this fight. Instead of hitting me, he grabbed a hand full of my hair and pulled me out of my room. I gave a silent farewell to Leonardo, I'd miss him. My stepdad glared at me, a cruel smirk on his pudgy face. I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking, this was probably a sign that I needed to stop reacting to things with a bad attitude, but what can you expect from an adolescent?

He dragged me by the hair all the way down the twisty plain hallway, I guess I was so used to this treatment I didn't care anymore, but I was worried about how I'd get away before Percy and Kaylee return. The man holding me reeked of alcohol and tobacco; normally I'd make sure he'd stay outside my room so he didn't make it stink, but I really did not have much of a choice because he was still dragging me everywhere.

Well, he let go and let me slam into the wall as I took a look at the large welcoming hall. A man stood there with a sneer. I knew him perfectly well. Mr. Winnet, one of the most evil mortal monsters to roam the earth. Okay, so he was human, but hey, if he's an enemy and I'm a demigod, why not call him a monster?

"Lyrian, daughter of the w-" He began with his sneer still there on his ugly face. I frowned at him.

"-Shut up will you?" I asked politely, and he raised his hand, but the smug smile on my face must've put him off. I tried to make it look like I knew something he didn't, which in a way, I guess was true.

"How dare you -you- speak to me this way, brat!" He spat –no, quite literally, he spat- his sneer changing to a look of anger. "Where is Katherine?"

I shrugged with a fake look of confusion on my face. "I haven't seen her in two years." I lied easily and casually.

"That's not what your teacher told us, Mrs. Sphine was it? She informed us that you had missed a detention- _together._" Jim grinned the evil grin of his; I just gave him a dull look in reply.

"Oh, you mean Kaylee?" I smiled, earning a sharp tug on my hair. I swear everything I say gets me in trouble; I need to keep these remarks to myself.

"You know who we meant!" Her father's eyes narrowed ferociously. I shook my head.

"I do not know a Katherine." True, Kaylee had put her two names, Katherine and Lee, together to create the name Kaylee. She hated her real name, just how like I hate mine.

"You are with her now; she'll come looking for you, I know my daughter." I glared at him with all the evilness I could muster at the moment. I was dragged outside and forced to sit and wait for Kaylee to appear, maybe she'd send signals to let me know she could see me. I prayed she wouldn't come and 'save' me. I was better at handling my family relations, but she feared her stepfather so much, he haunted her every single day and would continue to until she decided to face her fears of him.

I had no feelings towards Jim because what would I ever be able to do to make my mother leave him? Sure, she's been cheating on him with countless other men, but my mother's a smart lady, she knew that Jim was cheating on her the whole time after they were wed. But he was rich, and we needed money and a roof, so she seduced him.

I mean, if she seduced a god then she'd have to be pretty darn cunning, am I right? Either that or the gods did not have good taste in women. I closed my eyes, the sun burned my face as I waited, and waited. No sign of them yet.

Mr. Winnet dove back inside to get him and Jim (Rhyme not intentional) a can of bear each. I rolled my eyes under their eyelids, holding back a smirk. Go on; get drunk, I thought to myself with my breath sucking in some oxygen to hold back a laugh. Keep calm.

A rustle came out of the mini-forest and out came Percy with Kaylee at his side. I looked at them, eyes wide. Well, at least Mr. Winnet wasn't here yet.

"Get the hell away from her!" Kaylee said fiercely, it's been a while since I heard that tone in her voice. Percy was gripping his sword pen and prepared to uncap it. In the brief moment, we all stare at each other. Nobody moved an inch or spoke even a syllable. I sighed, trying to break the silence, but then Jim's hand pulled my up onto my feet, my skull screamed at the intense hair pulling. I had no time for this, I needed to go before my mother returned or even before-

"Ah, Katherine Lee, how wonderful to see you finally." Mr. Winnet stepped out from the shadows, two beer cans in his large and rough hands. I look at Kaylee's terrified face, I needed to protect her from her fears right away. But firstly, take my revenge on Jim.

When Mr. Winnet came close enough to me, I leaned over a little causing Jim's arm to stretch out a little. When he tried to pull me back, I kicked off the ground, smacking Mr. Winnet's wrist and causing the beer can to fly out of his hand. He gave a hoarse cry of anger and I sighed in relief as I felt Jim's grip on me, finally slacken. I bee-lined it straight to Percy and Kaylee, Percy must've uncapped his pen just before I'd done any of my amazing ninja skills, because he looked like he was about to kill someone.

Jim's upper lip turned into a snarl, like a very angry and ugly leopard. Somehow, thinking of Jim being a leopard made me laugh, and Percy just looked at me like he thought I was crazy. I probably was though. Kaylee had snapped out of her trance, but made no move to talk to her stepdad. The two men prowled like hyenas, they got closer and closer until Percy tried to take a slash at one, his blade flew right through. How weird.

He looked at me fearfully, "I can't kill mortals, I thought they were..." He left the thought to linger. I rolled my eyes, another bad habit of mine.

"Well, there is only one solution for this type of situation." I said with a grin.

"What?" Percy asked me.

"We run." I pushed Kaylee towards him and he caught on. He grabbed her wrist and ran; I followed after but I couldn't resist spitting at the two drunkard men. I'd take my full revenge later perhaps.

They shouted and cursed at me, but didn't dare to chase me. I caught up with Percy in no time, gosh was he ever slow. He looked at me, his forehead already drenched with sweat. I burst into hysterics.

"You're a slowpoke!" I doubled over, not being able to run any further due to my laughs.

"We don't have time for this; I heard a honk just a second ago." Kaylee muttered shakily.

"Guess we should get a move on then..." I sighed, only just being able to get up. I decided to go at Percy's pace as it would require less energy and take us further for longer.

In no time at all, we were outside of the school gates. A bored looking Annabeth, stood with Grover and sighed when she saw us.

"Percy, where have you been? Blackjack was anxious." Her grey eyes travelled over our flushed faces. "Nevermind." She snapped but then began whistling. I heard heavy fluttering and about five winged horses flew down from the clouds. I stared in shock. Okay, so, that proved that this was all really real. Life was about to get even weirder from now one. Each horse was beautiful in its own way. But what was even weirder... Was that I could hear the whispers of their voices.

_Yo boss! How long has it been?_ And for some reason, I knew it was the black one that was nudging Percy in the chest that had said this.

Percy grinned, "A while."

Two Pegasus behind that, looked at Percy with interest, but the black one snapped his attention to Kaylee. _Yo boss, this one stinks of coal _he whinnied with a look of concern on his horsy face.

"Hey! That's rude Mr.!" Kaylee's face twisted in offense.

_Boss, I think she can hear me. _The black Pegasus neighed nervously.

"Of course I can hear you, you haystack chomper!" She growled at him.

"Enough!" Annabeth shouted.

Raven patted her on the shoulder and looked at the winged horses in wonder. Percy quickly helped Grover onto one of the white Pegasus and then looked at me. A chocolate-coloured mare quickly stood proudly by my side. A brown and black stallion snorted angrily, I noticed how the sunlight flickered off the tips of his wings. It looked like sunlight was dripping from his feathers.

The mare whinnied at what I know knew as her brother. _Rodeo, I've chosen this demigod as my rider, I do not need your permission._

_But she has not been verified yet_, Rodeo complained with another snort.

The chocolate mare stared at me and she neighed quietly, lowering her back so I could jump on. I smiled lightly and did as she told me. "I can hear you." I whispered, and she snorted.

_You can? _She shook her mane as I patted her neck gently. Her hairs were sturdy, and a part of me knew not to mess with this Pegasus.

Annabeth, Grover and Percy raised their eyebrows at me. "What?" I frowned at them, but they looked impressed.

"No one has ever ridden Sadi before, she normally kicks them till they run, or die." Annabeth stated very simply. I stared at the mare below me with wonder.

_I wouldn't beat them up if they only they'd only call me by my real name. _She snorted angrily.

"Which is?" I asked quietly.

_July like the summer season_, she neighed.

I smiled at her, "Well let's get ready to take off." She whinnied in agreement.

Grover and Raven took a white Pegasus together, Annabeth had to take one with Safdeisha, but she wasn't as reluctant. Safdeisha was being as quiet Raven, which was odd. I had no time to ask what was wrong as when Kaylee took her seat on the Pegasus named Rodeo, the flight to camp began.


	6. 5, part 2: Lyrian's POV

AUTHORS NOTE: Hello, this is just a heads up for people who may be confused about writing styles. This story is written by TWO people. My character is Lyra, and so I write in her point of view, my friend Pibboo writes as Kaylee's, this is because it is a joint project. So, we each do one chapter each. Sorry if its hard to understand :(

We'd also like to ask you who your favourite character is so far and why? It helps us to write so we can incude more of this certain character.

PLEASE EXCUSE ANY SPELLING/GRAMMAR MISTAKES.

* * *

LYRA'S POV.

We landed on the ground in front of a huge pine tree; it was shaped like a Christmas tree but fanned out like a very big green swan. I hopped off the beautiful brown Pegasus, July whinnied a little as I knocked her wing with my backpack.

"Sorry.." I whispered to her,

_It's alright, riding with you is fun!_ She gave an odd smile, as you know, horses cannot smile.

I grinned, "Riding with is fun too, I'll see you later?" I asked her under my breath.

_Indeed_, she said whilst running off and flapping her great milk chocolate wings. She lifted up into the air almost effortlessly; I admired her shape and form as she disappeared behind a magical veil that supposedly kept the camp safe. I smiled as she vanished then turned to find her brother, Rodeo, staring at me oddly. I frowned, he knew something.

_You can talk to us too?_ He asked in a deep voice that seemed almost menacing. I just stared at him, pretending I didn't know what he was doing.

"So, Kaylee," I began but I didn't finish the sentence because Annabeth and Safdeisha landed next to us on a white Pegasus who never said her name, then Blackjack and Percy, then Grover and Raven at the rear on a sandy-coloured Pegasus.

I looked at the pine tree and wondered if there was a trick to get inside the camp, but I didn't say anything. Annabeth told Safdeisha to hurry along and we all left the horses to fly into camp alone, Percy seemed reluctant to leave Blackjack but had to anyway.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him and Grover tugged at Raven's sleeve to keep the group moving, or maybe to get her attention. Ah, who bloody knows anyway? Percy caught up to us and led the way, talking to Grover the whole time as we neared the tree.

"You ready?" Percy joked, his sea green eyes looking at us each in turn.

"As we'll ever be I suppose." I laughed shakily, nerves running through my spine like a rollercoaster. Kaylee nudged my arm with a grin.

"Let's go!" She cheered, her dyed red hair flicking her face. I sighed, I wish I could put on the brave face right now, but the day's events soared through my thoughts. I looked at Raven; she put on a small smile to give me hope. Safdeisha was the only one who looked scared. I looked reluctantly at the tree as we walked past it.

The camp could've outdone any other summer camp on sight alone. A ton of teenagers were sword fighting on a platform that was seven meters above the ground. One of them called down to Annabeth, and she waved at them with a grin. She gave us a quick 'talk to you later' before leaving us.

Percy and Grover were also pretty popular and were attracting quite a lot of attention. Safdeisha squeezed my arm and tried to hide behind me. Most of the kids were staring at her, not us. Even though she's my friend- I felt relieved that I wasn't the centre of attention.

We sped past a large volleyball court, it was huge. There must've been over fifty people playing, and there were nearly thirty balls in the air and I could smell the sweat from the players even though it was almost out of view. Gross.

A big farmhouse at the end of a trail was apparently where we were headed. It was a cute building, but it looked like if you blew on it, it would collapse in moments. Therefore, I didn't trust it at all. Percy didn't knock as he entered through the creaky old door, and Grover's hooves clipped the wood beneath. Raven punched his arm for some reason, could she be anymore random? Jeesh.

A chubby man, with large blue eyes was waddling down the stairs, he stared lazily at us. A grape vine hung around his neck; it was full of ripe and large juicy grapes.

"Ah, Pearl Joseph, I see you returned with some lovely new campers." He yawned, "More work for me ever since the gods accepted your little request..." He muttered under his breath, but we could all hear him just fine. His blue eyes looked us all over in turn. Who was this man, and who was Pearl Joseph?

As the man turned down the hallway and left, Percy sighed, "Oh great, he's calling me girls names now."

Grover chuckled a little 'bah', and then I heard gentle clopping of more hooves. First, I saw a man's torso, but then I saw the body of a horse. My eyes widened by themselves and the man smiled at us all. He had a bow on his shoulder, and a quiver on the other. He was a centaur, and so he was half palomino horse. He had dark thinning brown hair with bushy eyebrows, and intense brown eyes to match.

"Ah, Percy and Grover, I see you have returned in one piece." He smiled at them and then turned his attention to us. "I am Chiron, trainer of heroes since the dawn of the gods." One of his front hooves clicked the floor importantly. I avoided the centaur's gaze; I don't know why I did though. "But I am also the activities director for camp half-blood." He added with a nod.

Chiron looked right at me, then at Kaylee, then at Raven. But when he saw Safdeisha, he almost jumped backwards in shock. "What is she doing here?" He asked Percy and Grover sternly.

"She was with them, and the gods let her through the barrier so..." Grover explained earnestly.

"Excuse me? What is the problem here?" Raven asked, stepping in front of Safdeisha protectively.

"She is part monster, she should not be allowed through the barrier." The chubby man said, leaning on the wall. Where did he just come from? Maybe I just didn't notice him come back...

"What do you mean, part monster?" Kaylee asked defensively, I put my hand on her shoulder, she snapped her head around to look at me.

"Why don't we find out with a little less... heat." I sighed at her, and she calmed down a little.

"Follow me- and Grover, will you please go and fetch Annabeth for us." Chiron waved his hand respectfully, and Grover quickly left. Chiron turned around into a large room full of couches and arm chairs. Everyone took a seat and stared up at Chiron. "So, I'm not sure if I should be the one to do this, but..." He motioned for Safdeisha to step closer to him.

Her brown eyes looked at me; her hands were clenched and shaking. She turned her attention to Chiron and he looked at us a little sadly.

His face twisted into concentration and slowly, the green streak that was once Safdeisha's fringe was revealed to be a snake. She bit her lip and looked at us; she'd lied to us about who she was this whole time. I wouldn't deny the fact that I was mad, but I didn't want to upset her even more. She was at the brink of tears.

Percy's eyes widened. "W-what the...!?"

"We won't abandon her, even if she is part monster, we will never leave our friend." Raven stated with a glare.

"She will not be able to sleep in the cabins, she will disturb the others." Chiron said lamely.

"Well, I'll build her a temporary home in the forest then." Annabeth's sharp voice came from the door way behind us. Chiron turned to face her.

"Alright..." He said, looking at her in the eye, she did not look away. "You girls have not been claimed yet right?" He asked us.

"No, we haven't." Raven spoke up in a quiet voice.

"You will all be staying in the Hermes cabin until your parent claims you then." Chiron said, but then paused, "Except for you my dear." He nodded at her. We all turned to stare as a large skull formed above her head. "You will be joining Nico in the Hades cabin."

I stared at her. "Hades!?" I said, dumbstruck, who would've thought my quiet friend was the daughter of the god of the underworld. The skull began to fade, and Raven only just caught a glimpse of it before it vanished. Her eyes widened at Chiron.

"I'm... I'm..." She struggled to find the appropriate words to finish the sentence.

"You are the child of Hades." He said, acknowledging her with a nod.

Raven sunk onto one of the arm chairs, tired out. I stared at her with -what I thought was- bewildered look. The chubby man frowned in the doorway, shaking his head disapprovingly, he did not look impressed. "Another child of that damned..." He mumbled something incoherent to my ears.

"Is there a problem?" I asked him, looking at his pale blue eyes fiercely. He looked at me in shock for a moment.

"That face of yours, that determination, looks admiringly familiar... I wonder..." He trudged off, followed by a older satyr. Who did I remind him of?

"It would be wise not to anger him." Chiron looked at me.

"Why?" I asked blatantly.

"Because he is a god, god's do not like being ridiculed-"

"-Him, a god?" I laughed a little, until I realized he was serious.

"Yes. Mr. D, the god of wine and madness." I stared at Chiron, he WAS joking right?

"Enough, let's just get this temporary home for Safdeisha done already." Annabeth said, "Sorry, I just can't stand this scene, it reminds me of when Percy met him all those years back." She grumbled apologetically. Percy looked like his feathers had been ruffled.

He was about to say something but Annabeth turned and left the room, dragging Safdeisha with her. Me, Raven and Kaylee quickly followed suit.

She walked so fast I could barely keep up with her, and in moments we were on the edge of a very large forest. "This is where we'll make her a home, grab sticks and pile them up here." She motioned towards a spot on the ground. We split up and went to go look for some sticks, I found a nice large pile, but a butterfly was fluttering around it, so I avoided it.

The stick collecting went on for about an hour until we all arrived back at the same time, with a very large pile of sticks between us. We began following Annabeth's orders with no complaints. I had a feeling that if she ruled the world, she'd probably be one of the strictest queens in history. Soon, Safdeisha's make-shift home was complete. It wasn't an amazing piece of art, it was just like... What do people call them... A bender! Yes, it was just like a bender.

AN: For those who do not know what a bender is, it is a tent-like home made of sticks..

Safdeisha seemed happy, she turned to thank us. "I'm sorry I lied to you guys..." She apologized; her eyes welled up with tears. I stared; did I even want to accept her apology? The snake in her hair hissed at us.

_I am called Letine, I am part of Safdeisha, and she is part of I, _a soft voice spoke to us in our minds, or maybe just mine? I doubted it.

I looked at the snake, its forked tongue flicked threateningly at us. "I'm truly sorry, but to be truthful, I had no idea you guys were demigods... Just pretend I'm not part snake, okay?"

"It doesn't matter what you are!" Raven said happily as she tackle-hugged her with a wide grin on her face. I watched in awe as Safdeisha's tear struck face morphed into a laughing and happy one, major mood swing? Ah well.

"I'll stay here, it's getting late so you'd be going to your cabins right?" She looked at Annabeth with a sad smile. Annabeth nodded, her grey eyes looked us over. A flitter in the trees above caused her to look up.

"Let me introduce you to my friend." She smiled at the trees above, and a shadow appeared behind her, a boy in an aviator's jacket grinned at us. His hair was dark and messy, like he'd just gotten out of bed and his eyes were dark with just a hint of madness in them.

"Tree boy!" Kaylee exclaimed happily.

"Tree boy?" Percy questioned, appearing behind Annabeth with Grover at his side, "that's Nico." He confirmed.

"Really Percy, do you always have to go ruin my fun?" Nico asked, rolling his eyes.

"So Tree boy, your name is Nico?" Kaylee asked him, her fringe flicking over her green eye.

"Indeed." He chuckled lightly.

"Chiron told us to tell you the curfew's up and everyone is heading to the cabins." Grover piped up, looking at the ground. "I'm going to go find Juniper, good night everyone." And he left.

"Who is Juniper?" Raven asked.

"His girlfriend." Percy explained.

"Oh." She frowned.

* * *

We arrived at the cabins safely, and Annabeth pointed to which direction the Hermes cabin was in. When we arrived, a boy and girl were sat waiting for us. They had dark hair and dark eyes, and were unmistakably twins. The boy grinned.

"So, one of you got claimed? Shame, it's getting way to quiet in here-"

"-Oh shut up." The sister punched him hard in the arm, he winced. "I'm Westnie and this is my brother Benjamin." She smiled gently at us.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lyra and this is Kaylee." I introduced us and held out my hand for her to shake. She shook mine with such force I thought it would snap right off.

"Sorry, I play a lot of sports." She sighed and opened the door into the cabin. She pointed to an empty bunk, "You two can have that one."

We nodded, almost immediately; I decided to sleep on the top. I preferred higher places. I placed my bag next to the pillow and sighed. It had been such a long day. I felt like I was starring in my own movie. Who was my father? Who was Kaylee's father? None of it made any sense and I had way to many questions. I turned over, and rested my head against the pillow. The cabin was so quiet, the only thing I heard during the night was the tweeting of birds and the like, my thoughts of only what the next day could bring.


	7. 6, Kaylee's POV

Trying to sleep was like trying to slam shut a revolving door; freaking impossible. I slowly rose from my bunk and threw the blankets away, being careful not to wake anyone. I grabbed my bag and tiptoed across the room, slipping carefully out of the cabin door. I took a quick look around and set off for the one place I knew I could sleep -the forest.

It may sound strange, but when you live in a tree house in your best friend's backyard forest for a month or so because you can't stay with your step father, you learn to love and live in trees. Who cares about little bugs anyway? Well, anything but spiders, those critters are nasty little...

As I neared the forest, the cool summer breeze suddenly began to warm up. I looked back, was I being watched? _No, I couldn't be, _I told myself, shaking off the paranoia that had been growing in my chest. I continued my night time stroll to find a temporary bed like I didn't care about anything.

After walking for about five minutes, I stopped in front of a beautiful birch tree. Its bark shone just like the moon, a whitish silver colour. "Perfect." I said out loud, grabbing the lowest branch and so I began my steady climb.

~Flash back~

The first time I ever climbed a tree was with Lyra. It was also the day I left my 'comforting home'. I had moved to Rochester, New York when I was thirteen with my mom (Roslyn Holmes) and step father (Bill Winnet). Things went well for the first month, but then Bill began his addiction, drinking.

Around the same time when he had started drinking, I met the three people that made school less hellish, Raven, Safdeisha and Lyra. Lyra was the first person to accept me and we became best friends in little less than a week.

Lyra was the only one who had known about Bill, as she had witnessed one of his disgraceful outbursts, and had seen the scars all over my body. A month after Lyra and I met, I invited her over for dinner luckily my mom was thrilled to meet my new friend, but Bill, _hated_ the idea.

"Roslyn we don't know this girl, why should we invite her into our home?" He had said, eyeing me like I was meat in a vegetarian dish. I remember that I had shifted foot-to-foot uncomfortably.

My mom had wrapped her arms around my shoulders, giving me the brightest smile she could manage. I had given her my best smile in return, knowing she'd do anything to meet my first friend at another new school.

"Lyra is going to be over in half an hour, get ready; I need to start cracking on dinner." She kissed my forehead and walked into the kitchen, leaving me behind with stinky Bill. When she had finally turned out of view, Bill grabbed my arms and pulled me close, his nails had dug into my skin. I had to bite my lip as hard as I could in order to stop myself from screaming.

"You listen here brat," He whispers harshly, his breath had stunk like sour alcohol. "You and your little friend had better behave, or you know what's coming to you." He shoved me away like a broken porcelain doll and turned to go to his room.

I had run to my room to check my arms. Thin marks were all that I could see, everywhere. "Well, looks like its sweater time." I had muttered to myself, grabbing my favourite Panic! At the disco hoodie.

~Dinner~

"Kaylee! Lyra! Dinner's ready!"Mom yelled from the dining room.

"Coming mom!" I yelled back, standing up. Lyra and I walked into the dining room, the lush smell of garlic roast chicken and mashed potatoes danced around the room and made my mouth water.

~Time skip~

It was half way through dinner when things began to get bad. "This is wonderful mom!" I had said to her, smiling ear to ear.

"Yea, Mrs. Holmes, this is amazing!" Lyra smiled brightly.

"Please, call me Rose." She laughed in reply, but their smiles faded as Bill spoke.

"First of all Lyrian, you will not call her Rose OR Roslyn, or Mrs. Holmes. You will call her Mrs. Winnet, second of all..." He stopped and I stared at Lyra with absolute horror as she dropped her fork in shock of his outburst.

"How in the hell do you know my full name?" She managed to say.

"You disrespectful child, I want you out of my house this instant!" His face turned beetroot with anger. That was the last I could remember from that night and just over a year after was when I moved into the tree house...

Suddenly, reality came crashing in like a UFO, for a moment I forgot where I was and what I was doing. I stared at the branch my hand was on and I make the mistake of looking down. I carefully placed my bag on a hook in the bark, and tried to lift myself up after, but my legs and arms failed me. My knee quivers and my fingers released the branch, just like the comical cartoons on CN. I fall back, the branch just out of reach.

I tried to pull myself together, but my brain refused to respond. I knew within seconds, the impact would kill me, or hopefully just break half the bones in my body. I felt the wind begin to rush past me as my decent quickens. I shut my eyes, bracing for my own death. Just as I should of smacked down on the ground, I felt something catch me, then slip.

I lay on top of the person's stomach, and burst out laughing, the person started to laugh alongside me.

"Thanks for saving me..." I gasped loudly. "Tree boy!" I said, pushing myself off of him.

"My name is not Tree boy!" He said with a groan, but still laughing.

"Then what is it?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"Nico." He smiled at me.

"Oh, so it is Tree boy." I said, my face cracking into a huge grin.

Nico grabs my waist and pulls me in for a hug. "Crap!" I exclaimed loudly, slapping my forehead.

"What?" He said with his voice soft and his eyes full of concern.

"My bag is still up there!" I make way to stand but Nico just shakes his head, his messy hair getting tousled.

"I'm sure the wind will blow it down at some point." He smiled kindly.

"Yeah..." A cool breeze rushes past, and I shivered and automatically shifted closer towards Nico, who was looking up at the sky. I smiled slightly and he quickly looked down at me, his brown eyes sparkling and glowing with interest.

"What ya doing?" I asked, looking at him questioningly. In a spur of the moment, he grabs my face and squishes my cheeks with his palms. He was cold, but his touch was warmer than the cool breeze around us. He grinned at me.

"You have a green eye and a blue eye!" he exclaimed, tilting his head and examining them. I laughed, the only others who knew about this, were my own mother, and Lyra. I feel myself being pulled forwards slowly, I look into Nico's eyes and for a moment we were as one. But then of course the cold wind blew past and my bag fell right in the space between us. His hands slipped off of my face and he mumbles something under his breath. I could've sworn I heard laughing in the distance.

"Well," Nico leaned over and picked up my bag just as I reached for it, He swung it over his shoulder like a pro. "Holy Hades, what's in here, a rock?" He laughed and I remember the egg. I had forgotten about its existence during all the madness.

We began the walk back to the cabins, and all I could think of was the egg. I loved the designs that were woven into its shell; I loved how it always smelt of ash and fire.

Then, random lyrics popped into my head. "If I retreat, words, wars and symphonies make room, were taking over here," The voice in my mind sang. I shook my head and tried my hardest not to laugh. Nico looked at me.

"May your feet serve you well, and the rest be sent to hell, where they have always belonged, cold hearts brew colder songs, fate will play us out, with a song of pure romance, stomp your feet and clap your hands!" I sing out loud, my ADHD kicking into me.

"Let's kill tonight." Nico laughed at me. "You like Panic! At the disco?" he asked me.

"Hel... Heck yeah I do!" I grinned, but it was cut short as I looked around. "I think we may be lost." I said.

"Looks like it." He sighed at me, I can tell he had been through hard times because his eyes had shifted from a lively brown to a painted glaze. He almost looked like he was haunted by something.

"Nico..." I take a step towards him, "Are you...?"

"I'm fine, just, sorry."He took my hand and spun me around into a hug.

"Wha...?" I tried to say, but I was too confused about the fact we were suddenly standing outside of the Hermes cabin to say anything.

"Go on and try to get some sleep now, big day tomorrow." He let out a ghost of a laugh and then turned to leave.

"Wait!" I called out to him, and he turns with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, love?" His smirk widened, taking a step closer.

"My bag." I held out my hand.

"Oh right..." He unhooks the bag from his shoulder and he turned to leave. I quietly ran up to him, and gripped his shoulder. When he turned again, I lightly kissed his cheek. A slight blush highlights his pale composure. I grinned, but to be truthful, I had no idea what had come over me.

"See you tomorrow." He said, walking away to the Hades cabin. I watched him leave until he was out of my eyesight. Then, I turned, walked onto the wooden deck of the Hermes cabin and opened the door slowly, tiptoeing back to my bunk. I slid my bag under the bed, and then I slid under the covers and was finally able to get to sleep.


	8. 7, Lyrian's POV

I woke up to a steady ray of sunlight. I stared at the ceiling. Had all of yesterday really happened...? Maybe, hopefully, it had all been inside my crazy head. Percy, Grover, Annabeth, Chiron, Mr. D, Westnie and Benjamin, did they all exist? I turned over onto my side. This wasn't my soft bed.

Reality finally hit me and I gave a sigh. It was real, everything had been real, which meant I was in a cabin full of demigods, including myself. I could hear the soft breaths of Kaylee in the bunk beneath me. I also heard something else, heavy breathing, and it was coming from her bunk. I leant over.

A brown scaly creature had wrapped itself into a ball, snoozing on Kaylee's stomach. I stared at the creature until its head twitched and snapped to look right at me. If dragons could smile, I'm sure that's what this one would do. I fell of the bed with a scream.

The creature pounced onto me and licked my face with a large scaly-feeling tongue. I grimaced. Kaylee's body shot awake and stared wild eyed at me, the dragon was licking my face just like a dog would. My screams woke everybody up, Westnie rushed to me, but halted in her tracks when she saw the dragon.

"Somebody go get Chiron!" She shrieked but I was way too busy trying to shove the dragon off of me to notice Ben leave the room. For god's sakes, I didn't even see Kaylee trying to get me to calm down, let alone calm the dragon down. I felt the clenching heartbeats of fear burst in my chest; the dragon was still licking my face.

"Get off!" I screamed at the brown reptilian, he flapped his wings, but didn't get off. Maybe it was like a dog, and sensed my fear. Even so, these little dastards can breathe fire! For Pete's sake, I did not want to be burned to a crisp right before my tour of camp half-blood.

Soon enough, Chiron arrived with Grover, Percy and Leo- who all looked extremely sleepy. Leo's brown curls were even more tousled then they usually were and Percy? Well, he just looked like Percy.

"What is the meaning of this?" Chiron demanded, looking at Kaylee concerned. The dragon snapped its jaws tiredly and curled itself onto my shoulder. Kaylee quickly grabbed it.

"There was a freaking Dragon sleeping on Kaylee's stomach when I woke up!" I cried, curling up into a ball. Percy rushed into the cabin with Grover, but Leo just stared at the dragon as it was climbing all over Kaylee like a monkey.

"Festus didn't do anything!" Kaylee said defensively.

"You named him Festus?" Leo asked, his brown eyes widening.

"Yes, yes I did." She nodded and stared at him. Chiron suddenly looked at her, and me, myself and I really could not look away. A fiery red hammer appeared before her head, swinging just like a giant was swinging it around. Chiron smiled, but then concentrated at once. Leo stared.

"Okay, this makes sense now." He grinned, his elfish face lighting up with joy. He walked over, patted her hard on the shoulder and then steered her away from the cabin. "Right this way sis, I'll show around."

I stared, Nico finally showed up after they were gone. He looked at Percy and Chiron, bewilderment in his eyes. He looked awkwardly at everyone.

"I take it I just missed something important?" He asked us, but we all just stared. He took a step backwards, "Was she holding a dragon?" He threw his hand in a gesture backwards. He was greeted with silent stares yet again.

"Yes, she named him Festus, and yes, you missed something important. Kaylee got claimed." I growled, still curled up. I feared fire, so of course I'd get pretty scared of dragons. Percy patted my shoulder and looked up at Nico. I finally stood up, my knees wobbly and weak.

"Who did she get claimed by?" Nico asked me, his eyes staring me down. He looked almost envious at everyone in the room. I wondered what was up with that, but me being me, I didn't say anything.

"Hephaestus." I replied, glaring at the floor. Now I was the only one of us left in the Hermes cabin, which prematurely, SUCKED. Must be nice to have brothers and sisters like Kaylee and Raven, but me? I was probably like one of those unfortunate demi-god kids Annabeth told us about who will never know who their parents are, even since the gods made the pact with Percy. I retreated into a corner and felt a slight chill crawl up my spine. ...Uh? It was summer, why was it so cold?

A question aroused in my mind, how long would it take me to get claimed? I stared at Percy, his sea green eyes looked into my own. I casually tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ears, then reached over my top bunk and gripped my bag tightly before making my way through them all. Percy was probably about to run after me, but he didn't because I heard Chiron's voice say.

"Let her be." As I began to run as far away from the cabins as possible, out casted, that's what I felt like. My feet ached and I realized that I was not wearing any shoes, or socks for that matter. I was also in my pyjamas. _Wow Lyra, you are truly an idiot._

I ran to the canoe lake; anywhere where I would not be found was good enough for me right now. I frowned at the camp as it flew behind me. I wasn't the fastest runner, but I could run when I was being chased or wanted to hide. I finally reached the end of my morning energy, and collapsed by the riverbed, wheezing. I couldn't go on, and if this was a Hollywood movie, I would've said 'go on without me', but then again, I was alone anyway. I always was.

The population of the camp was suddenly waking up from the commotion of the recent scene. A few kisses were shared in the morning mist, which did not make feel very happy. I sighed and hid inside the brush of the bushes near the river. I dipped my toes into the water and stared down into it. A pale, green eyed freak looked back at me. I tore my gaze away before any naiads noticed me. I could try and leave the camp... No, that'd put my friends in danger if they came looking for me. I guess I could hide out in the forest for a bit and try to stay away from monsters, or live in hiding with Safdeisha. No, I couldn't do that either, Safdeisha wouldn't be able to keep a huge secret, as much as I trusted her, never with this. I curled into my famous ball form again.

"Hello?" A voice called out to me, and I flinched in shock, lifting my head up.

A girl around my own age, or older, was standing in the water. She was definitely a Naiad, but she was most definitely one of the prettiest girls I'd ever seen in my life. She had long black hair just like mine, but it was straight instead of over-the-top wavy. Her eyes were the colour of healthy grass in the springtime. She tilted her head and stared at me.

"I am Naia, you are...?" She asked me curiously.

"Lyra." I replied, choking back the tears I felt coming to me.

"Lyra." She said to herself with a nod. "I told to come and get you."

Judging by the fact she was struggling to talk in English, must've meant she hardly spoke it. "By whom may I ask?" I asked curiously, breathing deeply.

"I told not to say." She said, frowning. She held out her hand. "Come with me?"

Well, nothing could be gained by sitting around in self pity. I grabbed her hand, but then I realized it was a bad idea. She gripped it tightly and pulled me underwater with such force I didn't have time to react at all. We swam down further and further, and she smiled at me. It must've been her protection that allowed me to breathe underwater, as she was a nature spirit.

My blue pyjamas floated around me stupidly, and I looked back at Naia, she was swimming towards an open crevice on the bottom of the river bed. In between the crevice, was a small glittering in the bottom buried in the sand, I looked at Naia carefully.

She gave me a reassuring smile, and I let go of her hand. I swam down, holding my breath just in case and stuck my hand in the crevice until I felt something, I pulled it up and it revealed itself to be a pretty necklace.

There were several different charms attached, a trident, a spear, a sword, a knife, a bow and a shield. I stared; it was beautiful and really detailed. I reached my hand in again, and realized there was a bracelet like cuff that matched with it. I swam back up with the two items and Naia smiled again, she held my hand and led me up to the surface, it seemed so bright compared to the murkiness beneath.

When we got to the surface, I was thrown onto the river bank by Naia who once again leaned onto the land and stared at me. She studied my face for a moment.

"Why... Why you so sad?" she asked me, plainly sad.

"Well, seeing as you gave me these, and you are a Naiad, I'll tell you." My voice cracked at the end. "I'm feeling only a little down because all four of my friends were claimed... And I wasn't." I pouted at the black haired beauty in front of me. She smiled like a mother would.

"The kidds in the Hermes cabin are your family right now, if you are sure you are not a daughter of Hermes, try and focus on abilities other gods have." She said wisely. I stared at her, that may be true, but I didn't want to get close to anyone really.

"Let me tell you about that necklace, it is called the Ομορφιά του πολέμου, and has not been seen since the ancient times. I was told to hand it to you by my master." I noticed how well her English had gotten.

"Who is your master?" I asked curiously.

"No one of your concern, now go back to the camp." She replied sternly. Just when I was about to retaliate, I heard the sound of a horn, and then shouts and cheers from the camp. When I turned back to the river, Naia was gone, vanished, poofed. In the spur of the moment, I decided to change into something normal-ish, a tee shirt, a pair of jeans with some casual running shoes, I never cared much for appearances anyway.

I caught up with a group of campers, they looked at me funny, probably overheard my freak out over the dragon. Well sorry, not sorry. Jeesh.

"The hunters of Artemis have come!" An Aphrodite girl called out loudly, and sure enough, girls of all ages from 9-18 came hurtling out of the trees, bows hooked over their shoulders. Each one had a silver glow around them, but the one with the largest glow was just a small auburn-haired girl with sliver eyes. My guts told me that she was the goddess, but my sense told me she was not. They were all wearing white shirts, silver jackets, silvery camo pants and black combat boots.

She said some words to her campers and then left towards the big house. None of the guys dared to even look at her. Maybe it was some sort of spell, or something of the like, but then it could've always been fear. When she was gone, I noticed how her hunters didn't make any moves to talk to the other campers. One girl had split off from the group and was making swift conversation with the golden trio. Percy, Grover and Annabeth, I got a little closer and hid behind a tree, listening to their conversation.

"...And we picked up some extra baggage along the way." I heard shuffles and then a twig snap. I turned my head a little so I could see the conversation too, rather than just hearing it.

"Brother!" I heard a voice shout, and then Percy groaned. My eyes took in a sight, there was two boys, one that must've been just under two meters tall, had messy brown hair and... And one very large warm brown eye, I knew straight away what he was- a Cyclopes.

The other was also quite tall, but had blonde hair with blue eyes, not one eye. "Hey, Percy! Thalia decided to take a trip to camp Jupiter so that me and Frank could visit!" He said with a laugh. Percy though, was still getting bear hugged by the Cyclopes. I knew that the Cyclopes couldn't be called Frank, because that was way too ordinary. I looked around for someone who could be called Frank, but the only other thing inside was an eagle that continuously flew in circles around the group.

"No Hazel?" Percy asked and his eyebrows rose. The eagle screeched angrily, and swooped over his head. I stopped myself from laughing.

"Nope, no Hazel I'm afraid, she was busy with some problems that arose at Camp Jupiter." Jason said, frowning.

"What problems?" Annabeth asked iniquitously.

"Nothing we can't handle." Said Jason shrugging it off like nothing was wrong.

"Gosh you guys are serious." Leo grinned, walking towards them with Kaylee and pedo-dragon on her shoulder. I moved back behind the tree, there was nothing Kaylee would not see, I still watched as I decided to hide in a large bush.

"Yep, what's up with you- Oh, hi, I'm Kaylee!" She said with an identical grin.

"Jason." Jason said with a nod.

"JASON!" Somebody squeals, all of a sudden a dark-skinned, chocolate haired girl pounced onto him in a tackling hug. He groaned as she squeezed. "It's so good to see you finally!" She laughed.

"Uh, can't quite breathe..." Jason choked through the squeezing hug.

Kaylee saw me within moments, of course. I gave my head a shake and she gave a nod, a full conversation by head nods. The tackle-hug girl apologized to Jason and grinned, turning to face Kaylee.

"So, you're the new Hephaestus camper?" The girl asked her.

"Uh, yea... Who're you?" She said awkwardly, "Word travels fast I see." She noted more to herself than asking a question to others.

"She'll be our pride and joy soon enough!" Leo laughed, causing Kaylee to let burst a bright smile. I looked at the group, I saw the Cyclopes staring at Kaylee; at least she fitted in.

"I'm Piper, the Aphrodite cabin counsellor." She said over Leo's happy rant.

Safdeisha arrived with Raven and Annabeth quickly rushed over to them. Part of me felt undeserving of being their friend, I guess this was called jealousy.

I slapped the bronze cuff onto my wrist and sunk into the bush, disappointed with myself. I let out a short but audible sigh, and Grover turned his head around suspiciously. Ah, I forgot satyrs had good hearing.

"So how'd the recent hunt go?" Leo inquired, giving his oil smeared hand a rub into his hair.

"Fine, more monsters than usual though, Artemis said something funny is going on and as we were on our way here, some sphinx was clawing her way up the hill towards camp, she almost killed Bella here-" Thalia pointed to at a younger girl who had dark brown hair. She glared at the boys and gave a little 'harrumph' sound before turning and walking away. Thalia grinned awkwardly.

"Well..." She laughed lightly, "Gotta go get ready for our 57th win at capture the flag." She ran off, which was all well and good apart from she was running my way.

"We'll see about that!" Percy called after her.

I lay down, as flat as a manta ray (Or smiling pancake, which ever you prefer). Thalia hurtled through the bushes, leaping straight over me with a grin on her face. She didn't see me. I decided it was about time to head towards the big house, where Artemis probably was.

I did an army crawl to get out of view before getting out of the comforting bushes. I thought I was fine until I ran right into Grover. He dropped his can and I groaned, _perfect- just perfect._ He bent down to pick up the can, but I kicked it out of the way, in a spurt of anger, I said something I knew I'd regret saying.

"Go fetch goat boy." I walked away, hoisting my pack onto my shoulder for better grip. It would only take a few more minutes to get to the big house, well, a little more. Guilt, jealousy and disappointed feelings seemed to tear at me. How much worse could things get?

I kicked the occasional stone, but then my mind came back to what I did to Grover just minutes ago. I sighed, yawned, and then sped up my pace. Soon enough I guess, I arrived at the big old farmhouse. I sighed again, happiness drained out of me- if there was any left. Full of dread, I stepped onto the deck it creaked underneath me. My hand reached out and gripped the door handle, I held it down and entered the building, waiting for a scream, a shout or even Chiron, but there was nothing but faint whispering from one of the rooms.


	9. 8, Lyrian's POV

AUTHORS NOTE: Just to explain (if it's not clear), that the writer who writes Kaylee's POV, IS NOT ME. I write Lyra's, so I'm sorry for any confusion and apologize in advanced. Thank you for reading this so far! *brofist*

* * *

The whispers began like this:

"Four? How curious, and they all knew each other?" I heard a girl's voice say.

"Yes, and one of them seems to be offspring from one of the gorgon sisters." Chiron said gravely.

"The gorgons...?" Artemis asked.

"It seems so." I heard a deeper, more menacing voice say. It was most likely Mr. D.

"She could be dangerous, I don't know the reason why the gods let her into the-" Chiron began.

"How come I was not told of this, monsters, even half-monsters should not be allowed passage unless-" Artemis said, a slight sound of irritation in her voice as she was cut off by Mr. D.

"Somebody allows them to be, it may not have been the gods." Mr. D grumbled heavily.

"I do not think it'd be the wisest decision to trust a daughter of a gorgon." Artemis said with a slight tinge of pity. "However, should she ever lay a hand on any maiden, I will not hesitate to let an arrow fly." Her tone raised and became almost ferociously protective, like a wolf protecting her cubs.

"So, another daughter of Hades, another of Hephaestus... This third girl, who is she?" Chiron mused.

"I have my suspicions." Mr. D Admitted.

"Who do you think it is?" Chiron asked.

"Ah, that, we shall find out soon, I doubt the gods would want to anger Percy by not keeping their promise." Mr. D said, with an almost chuckle. Hang on, did I hear that right? He actually said Percy.

"Keep your secrets Dionysus, but I will find out, I've sensed someone powerful from this camp." Artemis said with a tired sigh. "Whoever it is, I shall request them to join my hunters, it'd be too dangerous to leave them in the camp, more monsters are rising, the gorgon sisters have not been spotted in nearly one year and I've hunted throughout all of the 50 states, no trace of them."

"Missing?" Mr. D growled, "Those snake haired wenches."

"But they left their offspring behind..." Chiron noted.

The conversation ended like this: the large sound of a swinging door came from my side. I turned quickly, seeing my three friends standing there with Annabeth at their side. I looked at the floor, backing away from the door.

"Were you-" Annabeth began, shocked.

"Ah, good timing you four as the lady Artemis would like to speak to you, Annabeth, you may go." Chiron said as he leaned against the doorway. I gulped, but he didn't look at me, thank goodness

"Alright." Annabeth looked at Safdeisha once before turning and leaving, once again.

"Come in." I heard Artemis ask.

We all walked in, sitting down in the familiar room. She smiled at us, her beautiful face lighting up happily. Her silver-like yellow eyes reminded me of the moon, and then I remembered she also governed the moon, so it made sense. Her being the goddess of maidens, made her feel overwhelming for some reason, don't ask me why because I needn't worry as I've never fallen in love before, ever.

She watched Safdeisha for a moment, "Do you know who your mother is?" she asked, her curiosity apparent, I'd heard everything, so she could not hide the fact she hated Safdeisha for being part monster. It wasn't like Safdeisha asked for it; she just got stuck with it like how I got stuck with Jim as a step father. Artemis had no true reason to hate Safdeisha until she heard her out.

"No, my caretaker at the A. home told me three women dropped me off with a huge wad of gold." Safdeisha said truthfully with a frown.

"I see..." Artemis said with an outtake of breath. "Well, which one of you has not seen their own blood before?"  
Odd question, but I haven't seen my own blood. I never fell down when I was a child, or cut myself when cooking; I have never shed any blood. Kaylee shrank back in her seat, her hair covering her face; no doubt she was recalling angry memories. Raven seemed unaffected and so did Safdeisha, I looked at them as I was hoping one of them would raise a hand or give a nod so I wouldn't have to admit it.

"I have not seen my own blood before." I admitted with a sigh, she looked me up and down.

"Well it would be rather inappropriate for me to shed a maiden's blood, so, Chiron if you'd please." Artemis said with her eyebrows creased in worry.

"Right." He said with a civilized nod, but as he was holding a pin in his hand, I'm sure what he was about to do was not civilized.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked shakily as Chiron gripped my hand, compared to his, it was tiny, the pin neared my finger tip, until I drew it back as I stood up angrily, heat rushing to my face. Okay, so maybe I wasn't all happy tree buds with Chiron, but that didn't mean he could stick a pin through my finger.

"We need to see something, don't worry, It shall not hurt, I promise." Artemis said, smiling slightly.

I relaxed a little and Chiron held my hand open, palm facing upwards. I waited for the pricking pain of the pin to go into my forefinger's tip. But as it went through my skin, I felt nothing but a tiny bit of pressure. Artemis was right; it had not hurt at all. I stared for a moment, nothing happened for a few seconds as the pin came out.

Then, a tiny drop of my blood finally 'erupted' from the wound. Which you know, makes sense. Apart from my blood was basically orange. I sunk back into the chair; Chiron didn't let my hand go. His eyes narrowed at my finger.

"Lady Artemis, what could this mean?" Chiron asked, raising his head to look at her.

She approached me carefully and held my hands after Chiron reluctantly let it go. She looked right into my eyes, as if judging my soul. I didn't look away; it was like playing the slender computer game which holds the rule: don't look behind you. She reached into one of her pockets and took out a small bottle, after letting a drop fall onto my skin; she bottled it up and put it away. The blood seemed to just seep back into my skin like the pin prick was never there.

"No fair, I want orange blood!" Safdeisha moaned.

"No, you do not." Mr. D. corrected her with a sigh.

"Chiron, this means that we have a demigod that could rival... You know who." She said, her delicate face melting into a frown. I sighed.

"Anybody like to give me some heads up on what this has to do with me?" I asked, irritation flaring at my throat.

"Lyra, you have orange blood, this has _everything_ to do with you." Raven pointed out.

"Oh yeah," I said sarcastically, "I think I missed that part."

"Hang on," Said Kaylee, finally motioning the fact she was alive. "You have orange blood?"

"Apparently-" I began.

"No, not apparently, she most certainly does, and she may have to seek counsel from Olympus." Chiron said, cutting me off.

"No, the gods would kill her on sight, she needs to prove herself." Mr. D said knowledgably.

"Oh, Dionysus, you're sticking up for a demigod who is not your offspring, odd." Artemis noted.

"I like her, I think she deserves a chance." Dionysus admitted, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Enough, Artemis, you may ask them now." Chiron said with his voice steely calm.

Artemis nodded looked at Safdeisha and passed her by, then looked at Raven closely. "Daughter of the king of the underworld, you may join my hunters if you wish, though your obsession may have to be left behind." She eyed the goat book in Raven's hand. She gripped the goat book tightly and frowned for a moment.

"I will have to decline." Raven said, bowing her head a bit.

She then looked at Kaylee, who shifted uncomfortably, she smiled gently. Artemis cupped Kaylee's cheek and gave a kind smile. "It is too late to offer you companionship as Aphrodite's hand is watching over you already, young one." She turned to look at me.

"I shall leave the option open for you; your mind is too... Busy right now for you to choose." She said, "All your questions shall be answered when you are part of my midst." She said, raising her eyebrows.

Okay, not going to lie, it was tempting, really tempting. But could I really go on for hundreds of years without ever falling in love? It couldn't be that simple, but seeing as I've had fourteen years without even crushing on anyone, maybe it was simple. Being immortal was tempting, but I'd never be able to grow up or have any children of my own. Surely if she was the goddess of childbirth she could understand the difficulty?

"I'll think about it." I said stiffly. The little devil warred against the angel in my head, 'oh do this', 'no you can't do that'. Ugh.

"Alright, I expect an answer at our next meeting on the road, Lyra." She smiled then turned and left the building. I reluctantly turned to meet Chiron's 'should I trust you' face, and all my friends looking at me funny. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen.

"I think I'll take my leave." I said with a frown. Why did I have orange blood? Maybe it'd make sense after I get claimed... _If _I get claimed. I turned and walked towards the door, it was wide open and Grover was standing there with a nervous grin.

"Let's begin your tour of the camp." He offered.

"Fine." I agreed, my three friends nodded and we left the building as fast as we could. I had the impression that if I didn't prove myself, not only would the gods hate me, Chiron would too.

The tour began as soon as we got out of the building. Grover grinned at himself, it seemed he hadn't given a tour since the time he became the leader of the council the cloven elders. We hopped over a stream and came to a very large building. Even from two yards away, I felt the heat radiating away from it, I didn't fare well with hot places...

With a frown on my face, we approached it. Kaylee was grinning widely, as if it was her life's ambition to visit a forge. Then again, she was a Hephaestus kid. I rolled my eyes, but the only one who saw was Raven, who didn't seem impressed. I wondered what was up with her.

The forge door flew open and I saw Leo was inside, tinkering away like the world didn't exist, I didn't know what he was making, but whatever it was; it couldn't be good, him being a trickster and all. With all the grease and oil around, I looked at Kaylee and pointed at my hair, it wouldn't be the greatest time to mess it up.

"I may need help." I said with a ghost of laughter.

"Seems like it." Kaylee grinned, approaching me as fast as she could. She almost tripped over a small bolt on the ground, I face palmed for a moment. She quickly began to work on my hair like it was a wire that needed to be bent. In moments, my waves were restrained in a tight ballerina bun, Leo looked at Kaylee reproachfully.

"You sure you're not beauty queen's sister?" He asked with a huge laugh.

"I'm pretty sure." She said with a nod, "But I learned how to do Lyra's hair when we were stuck in Mr. Morrison's boring science class every morning." She sighed, but it was soon replaced with a huge grin so much like her brother's. "So, what's going on in here?" She said, taking in the sights around her.

A group of kids were having trouble with a machine that didn't seem to be working, they all looked desperate. One girl walked up to Leo and told him what was wrong.

"We can't seem to find an electricity source, the power seems to have cut and we have no idea why." She admitted with a shameful frown, her dark brown hair was tied up with a dark green headband that was decorated with maroon zig zags.

"Surely it can't be a problem for you, Nyssa?" He laughed.

"It's not." She growled, turning to face the other kids who were trying to fix it. "We'll fix it later, let's get onto more important things, like weapons for tomorrow's CTF." She said with a huff.

"So, sis, show me what you can do." Leo grinned at Kaylee.

"Is that a challenge?" She said, folding her arms.

"You bet it is!" He got back to work and Kaylee quickly began to burn some metal in the fire place. She began to bend it into some sort of curve, then changed her mind and flattened it again with a sigh. She gave me a wink, and I chuckled to myself, she was pretty serious about this mini competition! We all watched for about an hour before she revealed what she made.

In her hands was a collar, like the type you'd put on a dog. Pedo-dragon eyed it with interest before snaking his way off of Raven's head. I glared at him for a moment but then looked at collar again. The collar was a light brown that shimmered with a light, so bright it looked like fire. The small tag was inscribed with curly lettering that read;

'Festus- please return to:

Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141  
Long Island, New York 11954'

How come she knew the address of CHB and I didn't? Maybe she asked Leo... Ah well, It's not like I cared too much or anything. Well, Leo made an odd little gadget. It was a little ring, but when he pushed the tiny metal gem on the top, it turned into a dagger with the metal jewels all glued on the handle. Well, it was obvious who won here, but then he did have more experience than her.

"Nice try sis," He winked.

"Oh, this is just for Festus, I wasn't competing yet." She said with a laugh.

"What?" He fell of his chair, shocked.

"You heard me." She grinned, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the forge, the other three followed, leaving a very confused Leo behind. I almost fell on the floor trying to contain my laughter, this had cheered me up after the whole 'orange blood' incident. Which reminds me, if I became a hunter; I could find out why I had orange blood straight away. I may have to wait a lifetime to find otherwise... But I'd have to say farewell to my friends and that would be too hard...

Next, Grover took us to the Stables, were we had a quick and polite conversation with Butch and some of the Aphrodite kids. Then we were taken to the fields, they were full of ripe strawberries that Grover said paid for more than half the camp expenses. Hey! Swords don't come cheap!

After that, we took a quick trip to the stables, a large wooden barn full of Pegasus' and hay. The smell was not the best, but finally seeing July again was fantastic! I gave her the thumbs up as I walked past her stable, she snorted huffily. Next on the list was the Armoury.

It was Chocó-block full of weapons from sticks to axes! The Cyclopes from earlier was sat on a stool, fiddling around awkwardly with something in his hands. Kaylee sat near him trying to fit the collar on the Pedo-dragon's neck, the dragon looked down at it and made some sort of sound like he was rolling his tongue. I rolled my eyes and looked at some of the weapons on the wall, none of which interested me too much. I put my hand on the necklace in my pocket, it was cold, almost freezing, just like silver should be. Why the charms were silver, I'd probably never know.

Raven poked a large battle axe with keen interest; she smiled for a moment, holding its long oaken handle with great care. She rested it against the wall and turned away; unfortunately, it fell and crashed to the floor causing her to jump back in shock.

On the other side of the armoury, Safdeisha was keeping her eyes on a long hunting knife that glowed as green as the snake in her hair. Maybe it was because her mother was a sea monster that the knife was calling out to her? Whichever gorgon sister was her mother, she can't have just abandoned Safdeisha entirely. But then again, my father had abandoned me... Well, I shouldn't dwell on it.

Still fingering the necklace in my pocket, I approached the Cyclopes with the nicest smile I could manage. "I'm Lyra, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Tyson," He grunted with a grin, "Are you sister or cousin?" He questioned me, looking confused.

"Uhm..." I mumbled, just as confused as he was.

"Lyra, quick, come and look over here! Festus loves his new collar!" Kaylee exclaimed, cutting the awkwardness between me and Tyson.

"Fire lady owns dragon?" He asked, his one eye widening at the little brown dragon. Who seemed to be joyfully fluttering around in the air for a few seconds before falling down with a gurgle and then he decided to pounce on me once again. Remembering its gurgle, I tried it out for myself; he jumped off of me with an offended look. Well, on the plus side, he wouldn't bother me for a while.

I grinned at Kaylee, "You speak dragon?" She asked me.

"I speak 'get off me' in dragon." I laughed and turned to check on Raven. She stood with Grover, holding the battle axe she had earlier, looking at him with pleading eyes. I leaned closer to try and decipher what the conversation was about. Really, I need to learn how to stop being nosy.

"...Oh, c'mon, the Ares kids are not going to miss one axe are they?" She said with her best puppy dog eyes.

"I don't know... They got pretty upset over a chariot a few years back..." He mumbled with a frown.

"...Please let me keep it? If they ask for it, I'll return it." She said desperately. "I'll even battle with one of them for it..."

"Bah! I would not try and fight an Ares kid, 'specially if you're friends with Percy!" He said with his nervous goat laugh.

"Maybe they'll take pity on me and give it to me for trying?" She said hopefully.

"You don't know Clarisse..." His eyes widened at something at the entrance to the armoury, I turned my gaze a little to see who was there, expecting it to be Jason or someone.

"So, this little priss wants to take cabin five's battle axe?" The beefy girl at the doorway snarled angrily, she had dirty blonde hair that literally looked like someone had cut her hair whilst being blindfolded. Her piggy brown eyes glared at Raven who gave a small frown, she opened her mouth to stick up for herself.

"C-Clarisse!" Grover gave another bah, and hid behind a set of armour, but he could still be seen clearly.

"It's only an axe, what's the problem?" Raven asked defiantly.

"...Only? Only an axe? You missed the point." Clarisse walked up to her and grabbed her shirt. "It belongs to my cabin, not some prissy god of the underworld's daughter." She said threateningly.

"Fight me for it." Raven said, showing extreme anger that flickered at her grey eyes.

"Hah, alright, let's see what you've got then, priss, if ya win, I'll give you that axe... If you lose, you have to claim who almighty I am to the rest of the campers." She growled a laugh and turned to walk out, when she reached the door, she gave a glare once again. "Half an hour, meet me at the arena."

"You shouldn't have done that Raven. Percy told us not to get involved with her unless we need help! You do remember what he said right?" Kaylee said, her blue eye widening, but her green eye was –as usual- covered by her fringe. She took a glance at Tyson.

"Could you tell Percy that a huge fight between Clarisse and Raven is about to embark?" She asked him with a smile.

"Anything for the fire lady." Tyson nodded, gave his wide grin and took off with a Cyclopes waddle, bowing his head to get passed the door frame. I watched him leave, then I too told Raven off.

"It wasn't the smartest Idea to start a fight on our first full day here." I said sighing.

"Oh shut up, if she thinks she can go around and tell everyone what to do, she's gonna get another thing coming." Raven snapped, looking me in the eyes. She was completely serious, which meant it'd be pointless to try and stop her now. I sighed again.

"But she is the daughter of Ares, y'know, the war god?" Safdeisha pointed out, giving a sigh that rivalled mine.

"Oh, wonderful, Raven, sorry to prophesize this, but you're going to die." I said sarcastically, "unless you have a plan."

"No plan, just instinct." Raven said, stretching her fingers and throwing the axe over her shoulder, "Let's go to the arena quickly and better early then late."


	10. 9, Lyrian's POV

"Fight, fight, fight!" The Ares kids chanted harshly, booing at Raven and hissing rudely at Safdeisha. I have to say, they certainly were creating a great setting for a brawl. Why? Because I was just about ready to punch them out. Only problem with that theory is that they'd probably be the ones punching _me_ out.

I gave Raven a pat on the back as she walked past me, it sort of served as a silent good luck charm. Clarisse sneered at her, jabbing her spear into the air evilly. With the group of Ares kids chanting behind her, it looked and sounded like a war was about to erupt, right here and right now.

"This is your last chance to surrender." Clarisse hissed along with her campers, I can see why Percy isn't keen on her even if he has known her for a few years.

"Nice try beef bucket." Raven glared at her, but gave me a sideways grin.

"What did you call me!? Ya know what, let's get this over with!" Clarisse raised her spear and slammed it onto the ground like she was a rugby player. The head of the spear didn't smash, but penetrated through the stone of the arena flooring. I felt the ground shake a little from the impact, and Kaylee's face fell, as did Raven's.

Raven jumped back a little, startled. Her black hair hit her in the face as she regained balance awkwardly. Her eyes held great hatred for Clarisse, there was no fear, just pure hatred.

"This isn't good..." A boy from my temporary cabin said.

"Felix, calm down." A taller boy with golden eyes said, sighing.

"But Stephano," Felix groaned, "She could die! Hephaestus fixed Maimer for Clarisse last year when Ares asked him too!"

"Give her a chance, it's not our fight." Stephano said strictly.

"But..." He groaned again, his blue eyes watching the fight finally begin.

Raven started the fight with a half-hearted swing of the axe. She was aiming for Clarisse's side, but her target moved out of the way as easy as breathing. Raven then sliced down on her arm, but Clarisse just moved out of the way again.

"Brendon, quickly come over here! The daughter of Hades and Clarisse are fighting!" Somebody called out to someone else. I turned my gaze for a second and watched a good looking guy approach Felix with an odd grimace. He had dark brown hair, almost black and his eyes reminded me of Kaylee's dragon, that warm colour. His eyes suddenly widened at Raven and Clarisse.

He reminded me of someone famous, I just couldn't remember who.

Clarisse finally stopped playing around and twisted her spear at her target's leg, and Raven's hair stood up on end. She collapsed to the floor with a face of agony, but she seemed okay... Then I realized she was taking advantage of the fact Clarisse had turned around to boast to her cabin. Raven pounced up onto her feet, and swung the axe around with a force I didn't know she had in her. It dented and made a loud clanging sound in the daughter of war's armour; Clarisse grimaced and gave a curse, wheeling around with a glare.

Kaylee gripped my arm like she always did when she was nervous. "What are we going to do?" She asked, looking around for something or someone to help. Nobody did anything.

Safdeisha paced around, struggling to keep still, muttering under her breath. When the Brendon kid tried to intervene, Clarisse gave him a look of pure poison. He stepped back and frowned, staring at Felix hopelessly. "She'll get mad at the Apollo cabin if I do anything."

"That's better than beating up a new camper!" Stephano spoke in a shaky voice, full of rage.

"But my cabin would get mad at me, nobody wants to get on the bad side of the Ares cabin, they'd pound us to oblivion..." Brendon mumbled, frowning again. Felix gave a sigh.

The Pedo-dragon was about to lick my face until I smacked him on the snout with a curse. He made an angry snort and fell off of Kaylee's shoulders and landed sprawled on the floor, Kaylee quickly scooped him up again. She placed him on her shoulders and looked at me. She grabbed my wrist and tapped the cuff-bracelet with her fingers.

"What's this?" She asked me curiously.

"I found it earlier." I replied, avoiding her gaze.

"Oh really?" She said lamely, "Hang on, it has writing on it!" She said, her eyes suddenly lighting up.

"It does?" I said incredulously.

"Yup, look!" She underlined the symbols with her finger. Little delicate curves lined the cuff, no wonder I didn't see it. The writing glowed a little, it was in some odd language, that I figured must've been Greek because our parents were, and so was the person who made me go and dive underwater to get it. πρέπει να χρησιμοποιήσουμε το μυαλό μας πριν τη φόρτιση στη μάχη, whatever that meant, I wasn't sure until seconds later.

It translated to; we must use our minds before charging into battle. Which made no sense in any circumstance, unless it was some lost hand-me-down of Athena's or something, y'know, goddess of wisdom and the strategy of war?

"Well, that's weird..." I muttered, staring at it. Tyson crashed through the door and was holding Percy by his shirt. He tried to wriggle out of Tyson's arms, but seemed to be failing.

"Fire lady, Tyson brought brother for you!" He bellowed proudly, walking up to us with a grin. Grover stared at him; the goat boy had been quiet ever since Raven began the fight with Clarisse, in which Raven was getting beaten entirely.

"Tyson will you put me down!" Percy struggled, and then got put gently on the ground. He rubbed his neck and turned to see Annabeth staring wide-eyed at the fight scene. Percy turned again and then saw Clarisse throw another blow at Raven, this time piercing her upper arm, she grimaced angrily.

"What's going on?" Percy asked, his voice trembling.

"Raven wanted a battle axe, but it belonged to the Ares cabin and so she and Claisse are fighting over it." I said, not looking at him. I watched as Clarisse whacked Raven's shins and the daughter of Hades fell to the ground in seconds. Clarisse raised her spear one last time, a murderous shine in her eyes.

"Stop this, stop it right now!" Safdeisha ran towards Clarisse and tried to stop her from hitting Raven, who was still on the floor, her hair all static. Clarisse paused to give a laugh at Safdeisha's bravery, but then was shocked to see a running half-monster charging at her. Safdeisha stood in front of Raven and tried to protect her from Clarisse, who once again laughed, but this time she raised her spear even higher. As it came crashing down towards Safdeisha, the snake girl looked up at the bully, Letine hissed and looked like she was about to bite Beefy's nose off. Clarisse froze as if time stopped, seconds passed without even a breath from the beef bucket. Safdeisha dragged Raven away as the Ares kids poked at Clarisse, wondering what happened to her.

Then she unfroze, her spear crashed into the ground, once again causing it to shake. Her eyes widened as her spear hit no target. She looked around until she spotted Raven on one of the seats, across the room. She opened her mouth, then shut it again, then repeated. So, she was acting like a very confused goldfish. The battle axe lay at her feet, and poor Raven was beaten up and bloodied on her seat, Percy and Annabeth were already at her side... And so was Brendon. I quickly approached in case Clarisse came out of her stupor.

"How do you feel?" Brendon asked, putting his palm against Raven's bruised forehead, she looked like a wreck. She didn't cry, but she probably didn't have enough strength to. Brendon kind of rolled Raven off of the chair, but she didn't smack down on the floor, she groaned quietly. Brendon didn't seem fazed; he opened his mouth and began to sing under his breath. Whatever he was singing, made sense, but didn't make sense. If it was a song, it didn't rhyme.

"Ας ύμνο μου να μετατρέψουν τις πληγές σας σε ουλές από τις οποίες η λεπίδα των προγόνων μου σας χορηγηθεί. Ας τις επιθυμίες του πατέρα μου τρέχει πάνω στο δέρμα σας και να θεραπεύσει σας μέχρι να είστε και πάλι."

Whatever he sang seemed to have worked, the cuts that had previously been gushing blood, had turned into strong scabs, and her bruises had mostly healed. She must've passed out moments ago; her eyes were swollen shut, so it was hard to tell. I'd get my revenge on Clarisse, when she least expected it.

"I'll take her to the infirmary." Brendon said rhetorically, picking her up and walking away. It was almost cute, if he wasn't a stranger we'd never met before.

"Brendon Urie?" I heard Raven's voice mutter as they disappeared out of the Arena. Oh that's who he reminded me of, and it wasn't just the name.

I looked at Grover, he looked teary-eyed. "I'm sorry, that was my entire fault." He apologized.

"No, man, I'm sure it wasn't." Percy said, trying to cheer him up.

"No, it was his fault." I smirked, "Without him, I wouldn't have known how much of a brat Clarisse is." I winked at Grover, "Now let's continue this tour, where too next?"

"Well, it's lunch for most of us, and I'm sure Nico's gonna be there and I need to ask him something." Percy said and Kaylee raised her head when she heard the name 'Nico'. Funny that.

"Yup, mess hall it is, you guys didn't eat anything last night, right?" Grover asked us,

"Nope, but the talk of food is making me hungry." I laughed.

The mess hall was loud and noisy, full of demigods sitting around and throwing food at each other, but from the outside, it was entirely different. It looked like the old Greek buildings I saw in travel brochures and stuff, apart from the view was way more beautiful. Each table had a white cloth with a purple trim, though many were destroyed by barbeque sticks. Apples, grapes, strawberries and other vegetables were in plenty on each table. Percy and Tyson sat together on the table near the fantastic view of the sea.

Everyone seemed to be sitting with their cabins and Kaylee was no exception as she had run to sit next to Leo in excitement. I puffed a tiny sigh as I sat down next to Felix, Safdeisha awkwardly stood in the shadows watching everyone like a sentinel.

"What's wrong with you?" Felix asked curiously, raising his eyebrows. "Are you still shaken up by the fight?"

I stared at him, a plain and very simple stare, eventually he turned away. Westnie took her place by my side, grinning at me; I saw that her nails were bright orange, matching perfectly with her CHB shirt. I should've said how nice it looked, but I never managed to compliment people out loud.

"If I wasn't afraid of spiders, I'd pull a trick on the Athena cabin and steal some of their 'famous books'" Westnie laughed, kicking her feet on the table, Benjamin stared, much like how I had stared at Felix before. I didn't say anything, but some of the other Hermes kids decided to agree with her.

I stuffed a burger down my throat and a large group of grapes and strawberries before walking out of the pavilion. I walked past Percy and Tyson and towards the sea. I looked over at the beach and sat down with a sigh, oh yeah, I was still in bare feet. How had I not noticed? Who bloody knows.

The sand was warm beneath my feet, and I curled in my toes. For a moment, I was tired, but then the sleepy flash ended and I was wide awake again. I shut my eyes and listened to the waves come in and out in pattern, pulling and pushing sand and shells from within its depth. I opened my eyes for a second, and saw a man sat on a rock in the sea, fishing. He was wearing what someone on a holiday in Hawaii would wear, with a cap full of fishing lures. I stared for a moment, what was he doing in the sea on a rock?

"Lyra!" Kaylee's voice called out to me, I turned to see her waving at me next to Safdeisha and Grover and I still felt terrible for Raven. With the smallest of chuckles, I stood up and headed over to them.

"Did you see the guy back there; he was fishing on a rock..." I grinned at them, but for some reason they gave me a 'are you crazy' look, and when I went to point out the man... He had vanished without a trace.

"Um, are you okay, you didn't get heat stroke right?" Safdeisha asked me worriedly.

"I'm fine." I snapped, tucking one of the loose hairs that had fallen out of the bun behind my ear.

"We brought you some shoes, because you'll need them for our next activity; the climbing wall." Grover laughed his goat call and turned on his hooves, walking away. We followed him, talking amongst each other.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Kaylee asked me.

"Yes." I said with a growl.

"Alright, I'm just checking." She said defensively as she threw a pair of shoes at me.

"Whatever." I said, catching the shoes and quickly shoving them on. "Okay let's go, before I see something else that doesn't exist."

"It's just around the corner!" Grover said from a little way in front of us. I looked at the ground until I heard something rumble suspiciously like thunder, but when I raised my gaze, it was more of an earthquake.

The climbing wall was about three stories high, or higher, with lava pouring out from the top. I stared; every inch of my skin began to prickle with the coward instinct of fear. The wall shook with tremendous force, which made me think that invisible giants could've been shaking it. This would not be good, I hated the heat.

Safdeisha looked like she was about ready to die of excitement. Me? I could pass on this one. Kaylee looked at Grover with wide eyes.

"This is _the_ climbing wall?" she asked him.

"Yup, you climb this; you have the right stuff to be a true hero!" He grinned widely.

"And if you don't make it?" I questioned, already partly knowing the answer.

"Well don't feel disheartened, most people don't make it up the first time either." He explained casually.

"Alright, I'll go first then." Safdeisha piped up.

"Is there any equipment?" I said worriedly, raising my eyebrows at the other kids and satyrs who were swinging around with no rope or anything to keep them from a fall to the death.

"Nope, there's none!" He said cheerfully.

"Safe." I noted.

"Totally," Kaylee agreed, looking up at the wall.

We watched Safdeisha get around one third of the way up the wall before making the mistake of looking down. Her body froze up and she fell with a squeak. Luckily, she didn't land hard, unluckily, she was still in pain.

"Is this a death trap?" I asked,

"Nope, camp half-blood is a place for safety, shelter and training for young heroes." Grover exclaimed happily.

"Safety..." I mused sarcastically.

"Guys, I think I've broken something." Safdeisha moaned, rubbing her back as she approached us.

"Oh suck it up buttercup, it's my turn." Kaylee grinned.

She was more coordinated from her training from living in the tree for a month. She smiled as she jumped from one ledge to the next. Nico-not surprisingly- appeared next to me and watched her climb. His dark eyes glowed with interest. Even if Kaylee liked him, I still wasn't sure about him. I also doubted if she only just liked him, or if it was something more. Anyway, Kaylee was one and a half metres away from the top before she fell. Nico caught her instantly; somehow he'd managed to get over to the wall in seconds before she fell. On the plus side she was alive.

I don't know how Nico managed to keep Kaylee up for so long as he was a scrawny looking guy; somehow I think I jinxed his strength. His arms must've given up on him as he and Kaylee crashed onto the floor. They both laughed very loudly. With her turn done, it was now mine. Oh boy, I was going to fail like a chicken trying to dance.

When Kaylee and Nico stood up together and walked over to Grover, it made me feel like that internet meme 'forever alone'. I mustered up any courage I had left, and took my first step on the climbing wall. Instantly, I felt the wall start to shake and rumble beneath my feet as if it were a bird fluffing its feathers. I took a big breath and pulled myself up further. Again, the wall rumbled, this time it grumbled like a dinosaur. I bit my lip hard before taking another step up, my foot almost lost its balance at some point during the climb, but I regained it on another ledge quick enough.

I was around two meters up now and Kaylee was below me, cheering her throat out. I sighed to myself as I got up onto the next set of ledges. As I got higher, the more lava poured down, and the more I wanted to fly far, far away from this wall. Why flying you ask? Who knows, maybe it was because I WAS TWO STORIES UP WITH NO FREAKING EQUIPMENT! Hell, I could fall to my splattering death from here, and thanks but no thanks do I want to die falling. Not going to happen.

Kaylee's voice cracked and she didn't speak, which made me happen to have my...

1. Focus stolen away,

2. My ADHD kicked in and I said to myself 'that's the longest she's ever been quiet for',

3. And did cause me to almost fall to my death when my hand slipped and my heart skipped a beat.

I looked down and saw Kaylee gripping Nico's arm, she gave me a smile, but as I was so high, all I saw was the small curved line. I pushed myself further but the lava was coming down in thicker streams as I neared the top. It almost looked like lasagne. Wait, no, scratch that last part, being attacked by lava doesn't sound that heroic. Gods, I hate my mind sometimes.

I grimaced and looked at my arms, the heat from the lava singed my arm hairs off and well at least I was clean shaven. Somehow my shoes had burned partly off and my heels were getting over heated by the molten lasagne-I mean lava. I really need to sort out my brain.

Then my body went into shock from the pain of my heels. I started to climb faster to try and get rid of the heat. With a final glare at the holes where the lava was coming out from, I made it to the top. Kaylee cheered, but again her voice cracked and she had to stop. Meanwhile, I was digging my nails into the wall and perching cat-like, not prepared to go down.

Eventually they got a satyr to carry me down; I did not like the lasagne-...lava at all, and refused to go down encase I got burned again. My body ached a little, but when I touched solid ground, it was a much calmer feeling. Being on the wall was like being on a volcano as it erupts, literally. Kaylee must've had way more fun than me.

Next Grover took us to the amphitheatre, but we didn't go in there because there really was no need. Why? Because it's just a stage, that's all. It's probably a replica of the one in LA, but then, that one was a replica of the one in Greece. Is it me or is everything based off or replicated of something? Jeesh, we need to get creative.

Next up, was probably my favourite thing here at the camp; the canoe lake. Even better because of the hot weather (as much as I disliked it). Grover turned to grin at us, the lake shimmered and glowed, sparkling brightly like the sun and coexisting blue along with the sky. I stared for a moment.

"Let's take a break, you guys can go swimming!" Grover laughed.

"Oh look, a tree." Kaylee said, already climbing up it.

"Why are you going up a tree? Aren't you gonna go swimming?" Grover asked her.

"No, I'm not going near the water. The beach was fine as I was far enough away from the sea, but I won't be going swimming, no way." Kaylee said shakily.

"Kay's just a scaredy-cat when it comes to water." I explained to him, seeing his confused face. Then I waded into the water from the little sandy area that we were in. Safdeisha quickly followed.

The water at my feet was just the right temperature; cold. If Kaylee was in the water she would of turned it into a hot spring. I sighed, watching her climb the tree and grip the branches shakily, her eyes staring at the water with pure fear. Safdeisha shivered when her toes touched the water, and her body froze up from the change in temperature, I smiled at her, beckoning her with arm movements.

"Hurry up, Saf." I laughed.

"There's a silent F!" She growled frustratingly.

"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes and splashed water at her face. Letine hissed at me, flicking her forked tongue.

"...It's cold, how are you so deep in?" She asked me, a confused look in her eyes.

"I adapt quickly," I winked at her, then it was her turn to roll her eyes at me.

"Alright, I'm cold, it's been two minutes and I'm done." And she walked out. With no other option than to be alone in a lake, I followed her. Kaylee groaned miserably.

"We're done now, you can come down." I said breezily, grinning at her as she slowly slid herself down. I wonder what she would do if Nico hadn't managed to disappear on the way here, she probably would've just stayed away from the water and try to keep a cool profile... I let my grin go, and looked at Grover, who was having a conversation with Safdeisha; it seemed that they were wondering whether Raven was okay. For some reason, I wasn't worried because I trusted Brendon.

The arts and crafts building was large enough for an entire army squad to hideout in, well, if they knew how to get into a camp with a magical border that was full of monsters and demigods then sure. Kaylee was happy to get away from the lake, but the building made her ecstatic. She rubbed her hands together and barged through the door without us.

For such a large building, it was a shame that it was empty of all human life. But to see one place that was silent in this large camp was a good feeling. At the least there was one place that was peaceful and quiet, as I looked out at the outside building, I noticed how late it was getting.

A wild redheaded girl fell out of a cupboard and screamed when she saw us as well as falling over again. The poor girl looked like she hadn't seen the sun in weeks and had large bags under her eyes, maybe she was just missing out on sleep perhaps?

Kaylee shook the girl's shoulders with a beaming grin on her face, "Did you do these?" She flicked her hand at the collection of paintings on the wall.

"Uh, yeah, I did." The girl admitted, trying to loosen Kaylee's grip on her shoulders.

"I'm Kaylee-" and then with a quick change of subject, "-Your artwork is amazing!"

"I'm Rachel, and, uh, thanks?" She replied, accidently scratching her forehead and leaving a large smudge of paint where her hand touched instead.

"You're Rachel? _The_ Rachel, wow!" Kaylee's jaw dropped.

"Not sure about the 'the' part, but yes, I am Rachel- the host of the oracle." Rachel explained.

If I could've kept a straight face, I would've, but all I could think of was the matrix. "'The host of the oracle'?" I prompted.

"Yes, one who spews prophecies and doesn't remember a god damned thing afterwards." A very straight forward reply came from her, and for some reason, this girl was one of the few I could respect quite easily. With a small step forwards, I decided to look at her paintings. As it turns out, I shouldn't have stepped forwards as I only took that same step in the opposite direction.

The paintings were gorgeous and full of life, but four of these paintings were dark, but beautifully foreboding. With a small chomp on my lip, I took a look at the nearest one of these four paintings. My eyebrows were raised to their peak with interest.

I don't know what it was supposed to be depicting, but that was the good thing about art. Only the artist knows what he/she has created. To me, it looked like an underwater picture... with chains? No, it couldn't be.

The second painting was a ring of fire surrounding the moon, which I totally did not understand, but Kaylee was entranced with it muttering about pretty fires. The third painting was just as weird. It was an eye and in that eye was a white circle being surrounded by darkness. My first thought was fear of something, anything. It was so eye catching that Grover and Safdeisha had to cough loudly to get my attention away from it.

The fourth painting though, was extremely magical. It was a frosted field, so pretty but then it looked so fragile too. But what was in its centre was the most important, a stairway to the sky-

"It's getting late, we can check out the volleyball court later, let's go eat and meet at the campfire later." Grover told us with an awkward side pout.

"Alright." I agreed, "See ya Rachel."

She waved us off and we ran to the mess hall playing the game 'last on there's a rotten egg'. I was happy at this camp though I still felt alone, but that was the only problem.

As the dinner was finished when everybody was full, we all filed out and walked quickly back to our cabins. I once again reached into my pockets as I said goodbye to Kaylee as Safdeisha had left long before to get to her 'home' before dark fell completely.

Chiron began the campfire and all of the kids filed out, I watched from my window. The flames circled dangerously in the air, and I saw the pedo-dragon leaping at the ashes that strayed away from the big flames. I gulped slightly and gripped my ankles in my famous ball position. Fire was something I did not get along with.

There was stomping on the cabin deck and then all of a sudden Kaylee's face was flushed with a light mock anger. "If you do not come out and be social, I will drag you out by your ears."

Instinctively, I raised my hands to cover and protect my ears. How dare she bring my ears into this! Goddamn it my ADHD-ness really annoyed me. Really, I could do with a break from my mind going haywire.

So, as it turned out, I walked out of the cabin by my own rules; which were; don't touch my ears or I'll kill you. What's a little threat against best friend's anyhow? Well, Chiron cracked his knuckles and everybody stopped talking immediately. His voice boomed out at everyone around the campfire(Which make no mistake I was sat far away from).

"For our new campers, and due to the unexpected visit from the hunters and Lady Artemis herself, we will be playing a game of capture the flag tomorrow afternoon. I expect you have all prepared?" The campers cheered loudly and almost made me deaf. Chiron continued. "Well, for now we have prepared you all some marshmallows!"

The campfire died out fast and we all went to sleep eventually, I must've been one of the last to go to sleep, but I wasn't the last because I saw the figure of one the boys stalk out with a mumble. It was weird, because I couldn't see them entirely.

The day started off normally... I kind of slept in until twelve. The capture the flag members had gathered already but Kaylee quickly yanked me into the group. I was still half asleep so I probably agreed to things I didn't even acknowledge. As we were pushed into the forest, I realized we didn't have any weapons or armour, which totally freaked me out as the other kids did. I looked at Kaylee and she looked at me.

"You two can hide our flag." Percy told us with his thumbs up.

We looked at each other again with identical smirks as we held the flag. "Let's go up a tree." Kaylee grinned, I nodded. My first game of capture the flag, but for some reason I had the urge that something was going to happen later on, today but it was something I wouldn't be able to fathom.


	11. 10, Kaylee's POV

Percy handed us he flag and grinned, it was actually pretty heavy for just a stick with a flag on it. I'm kinda glad Lyra was there and holding it with me. I turned to face her and I beamed a smile.

"Let's go up a tree!" I couldn't help but smile at Lyra's confused expression, but it quickly formed into a grin. I grabbed her wrist and we raised the flag higher as we both broke into a speedy run with the blue team flag streaming behind us like a floating river.

We finally stopped at a tall tree by one of the many streams, the leaves camouflaged the branches that were higher and the lower branches far apart, which made it harder to climb. But hey, what's life without a little challenge?

"Hm," I began "How are we going to get up there?" I looked at Lyra and hoped she would have some brilliant spark of idea. Her eyes widened suddenly, the horn that signalled the beginning of the game had sounded, and we needed to hide.

"Uh... Oh, look!" She pointed to a tree next to our hiding tree, "The branches are close enough together to jump from." She pulled me forward and takes the flag from me. I started to climb and Lyra followed closely behind. We reached our jump spot and I looked down which was a big mistake. The fear of falling made my stomach flutter and I looked at Lyra with wide eyes.

"C'mon, you can do it Kaylee." Lyra smiles at me and I stepped out onto the branch. I took a small step forwards and took the biggest inhale of air ever before leaping off the branch.

I landed -not so- smoothly onto the other branch and had to move forward to make some room for Lyra. She jumped like an acrobat and landed gracefully on the branch-I couldn't even feel the impact. I took the flag from her and hanged it on a thin branch above me. I sat close to Lyra, but we sat on separate branches; hers was slightly higher than mine.

"Dang it, we should've brought some food!" Lyra groaned, staring down at me.

"Stephano and Felix are going to bring us food and water in a bit-" but then I stopped talking (which was rare for me) and I looked down. Someone was already near our hiding spot. I quickly lied down on my stomach and lean my head over the leaves, trying to see the person. When I saw who it was, I nearly threw up... Okay that's exaggeration but I didn't like this kid at all. I pulled myself back into a comfortable position and looked up at Lyra.

'Who is it?' she mouthed, but then I waved my hand to signal it was okay to talk now. I gave her a solemn stare and then said the dreaded name.

"Jax." I said with a slight clench in my jaw.

"Who?" She asked, leaning forward to see him better.

"That really annoying Hermes kid who won't leave me alone..." I looked down and had to use my amazing willpower to stop myself from throwing a walnut at his head.

"Who?" She repeated, practically hanging off her branch to try and get a good look at him.

"That kid who is completely obsessed with me and won't give me any space." I glared down this time and my amazing willpower gives in and I pick up a walnut. Lyra looked at me with her eyebrows raised and I smiled at her as I threw the walnut right at Jax.

"Ouch!" Jax said, rubbing his head angrily. He skulked away and once he was out of sight, Lyra and I explode with laughter.

"Nice shot!" We heard someone say with a fake, but very good French accent.

"Stephano..." I stopped myself then, knowing something was up.

"Felix, the hunters are coming!" I heard Stephano whisper softly, Felix nodded and takes a bag from Stephano before climbing the tree to jump to the one we were in. I was shocked at how good he could climb. Stephano drew his sword and headed over towards the stream with light footsteps.

"Good thing we're up a tree." Lyra randomly stated.

"Why?" I asked, turning my head slightly.

"Because we didn't get any swords" Lyra laughed.

"Oh, then yea, we'd be screwed." I laughed with her.

Felix finally dropped down onto one of the branches that was slightly lower than mine, his sandy blonde hair was matted with sweat and his light blue eyes were shimmering with the early sunlight. He smiled at us and tosses me a bag, which I instantly passed to Lyra because I knew I would drop it. Lyra's position suddenly shifted. Her arms were crossed and her legs crossed at the ankles- her classic sitting down 'I know something you don't know' look.

"What?" I asked and Lyra's smug grin changed into a sly smile.

"What!?" My voice cracked lightly and Felix laughed alongside Lyra who was smirking evilly like how she looked whenever she saw ice cream or snow (do not challenge her to a snowball fight, I've heard way too many stories...).

"Seriously though, what is it?" I feel my cheeks beginning to heat up slightly, but then I had to shake it off when Felix climbed up to my branch to sit beside me. Lyra leaned forwards and swung her legs off the branch.

"So, you and Nico, huh?" She winked at me and my mouth dropped in shock. Felix slammed his back against the trunk of the tree.

"You and Nico!?" He shouted in shock.

I began to mumble incoherently and I only managed a short "I don't know wha-" before I was cut off by Lyra.

"Don't bother. You know I can tell when you're lying." She said, grinning vigorously.

"Truthfully, I think she's the only thing that is keeping Nico sane." A voice in that familiar fake accent said from above us.

"Hey, Stephano- you're back!" Felix smiled up at him and Stephano swung himself down onto Lyra's branch.

"What do you mean by that?" I raised my eyebrows inquiringly at Stephano for him to continue and elaborate on the subject about Nico's sanity.

"Ellos Felix," The fake Frenchman looked at me, and his accent dropped. "Kaylee, the dude's been to Tartarus and back, he has seen things we only think of in our worst nightmares." Stephano sits next to Lyra, who was looking at me with her eyes widened and her mouth hanging open.

"What?" She looked at Stephano and then back at me, her eyes got impossibly wider. "Did you know?"

"He never told me." My voice sounded hollow and unlike me, but then I looked up at the Frenchman with serious eyes. "How come you knew?" He smiled softly at me.

"Word travels fast around here, in fact, I already know about Lyra's blood complex." He said, glancing around but focused more importantly on the ground, I followed his gaze down and began to scan the forest floor for any red team members.

The four of us suddenly fall silent as we heard a whistle from a few feet away. I hoped with all my might it was a blue team member, but I had to crane my neck to see well.

Felix gave a little scared 'meep' sound and pulled me back up, I looked at him questioningly. From the look in his eyes, I knew we could tell which team colour to expect. I quickly came up with a plan in the limited moments we had, but Stephano beat me to it.

"If they attack, Felix and I will fight them off and you and Lyra can take the flag away before they see it because then they will think that we are just decoys." Stephano said to us, his accent came back as fast as it had left.

"No need for that Steph, I'm on your side." A voice said, the humorous tone rang through and I recognised it all too well, but my brain didn't register it entirely.

"What is up with that helmet then?" Felix asked, his usually hidden courage shining through.

"Okay, well, I highly doubt that boys are allowed on the hunter's team." The person who the voice belonged to finally came into my view, why did I not realize it sooner?

"Nico, why on earth did you steal a red team helmet?" I looked down at him and he smiled up at me.

"Nico?" Lyra and Felix say together, making me jump in surprise.

"I should've known." Stephano grinned.

"Is there any more room up there?" He asked, removing his helmet that wasn't exactly his.

I didn't hear the answer because my ADHD kick started once again and wandered off into the magical realm of fairies until it felt like I was seeing through someone else's eyes. It was peculiarly odd but interesting.

"Kaylee?" Someone said and nudged me in the arm.

"Ah?" I looked at the person who had nudged me. Felix was going to say something, but Lyra intervened. She really was a worry heart half the time...

"Kaylee, you okay?" She asked, taking a water bottle out of the bag, with extreme slowness.

"Yeah, I just phased out for one second." I looked down at the ground and quickly jumped to my feet, I accidently alarmed the others and Felix had something of a heart attack/breathing problem attack. Nico accidently shifted and a stick snapped, I shot him a glare and threw a walnut at the back of his head.

"Hey! What did I do...?" Nico starts, but shuts up instantly when I signalled I'd throw another walnut at him. Felix let out a gust of his breath in the sudden awkward silence.

"What's going on?" Felix asked, trying his best to whisper as quiet as he could.

"We're surrounded by hunters." I answered and crouched down a little to stay out of sight.

"What are we going to do?" Felix mumbled absent-mindedly, trying not to freak out.

"You, me, Lyra and Nico will draw the hunters here and Stephano... You sneak out and theif the flag." I ordered strictly and I saw Lyra roll her eyes casually.

"You sure that's gonna work?" Lyra asked me.

"Well, we're gonna have to find out." I said, turning to Stephano, "Get ready."

"We know you're up there!" I heard Thalia yell.

"And we know you're down there!" I yelled back down and grinned at Lyra.

"Now, let's take this nicely, we don't want to hurt anybody." She reasoned as more hunters gathered around our tree. Felix looked nervous.

"We don't want to hurt anyone either!" Lyra echoed back and we all tried hard not to laugh out and fall out of the tree.

"What weapons do you have?" Thalia asked.

"What weapons do _you_ have?" I questioned.

"Bows and arrows" She answered smoothly.

"Well, we have walnuts!" I hunched over with my shoulders bobbing with silent laughter. Nico was trying not to laugh so hard that it looked like he was going to turn purple and drop dead, Lyra was also trying not to laugh, but she didn't seem up to much. Felix was silently laughing, but he was still nervous.

"What?" Thalia asked dumbstruck, as the majority of the hunters showed up.

"I said; WE. HAVE. WALNUTS!" I yelled victoriously and Stephano smiled, vanishing/sneaking away to retrieve the red flag.

"How will walnuts save you against arrows?" A random hunter asked, confused.

"We don't know, but they sure are fun to throw!" Felix answered for us before either me or Lyra could open our mouths.

"They can't harm anyone." Thalia said with a relieved sigh.

"They will if you throw them hard enough!" Nico said with laughter dancing in his dark eyes.

"Darn you guys are so..." Thalia was clawing at the tree like a cat. Then she suddenly stopped and stared at something with her eyes widening in such shock I'd thought she had been electrocuted.

"Ello ladies," Stephano said in his fake French accent, adding in a formal bow for fun.

"Stephano!" We all yelled in unison with big grins on our faces. He had got the flag.

"BLUE TEAM WINS!" A sudden chorus of laughing, cheering and yelling reached our ears and came closer and closer. Soon enough, a wave of blue surrounded the hunters.

"But... How did... He... What?" Thalia managed to ask in utter shock.

"WALNUT POWER!" Lyra and I yelled together, throwing the walnuts in the air for a dramatic effect. Lyra, Nico, Felix and I had to wait for the stampede of campers to clear before moving off of the tree.

-Back at camp-

"Congratulations on your teams victory." Artemis told us and I noticed her form had changed from a young girl's, to an older girl's of around the age 14 or 15. She extended her hand with a gracious smile that caused a silvery glow to be cast around her again.

"Thank you Lady Artemis." I said, taking her hand. She shook it softly and then moved to Lyra. Her silver eyes glittered for a moment.

"I hope to see you two again soon." She smiled, putting her hand on Lyra's shoulder. I did manage to choke out a few words though, but of course they were in my head.

"You too, Artemis." Lyra smiled back staring beside me. Artemis turned to leave.

"My offer still stands Lyrian, I hope you will consider it." She said as she walked away.

"I shall..." Lyra whispered to herself.

"C'mon!" Leo suddenly appeared, his hair curling out of his blue helmet. I was going to question why he still had it on, but we did too so I forgot about it.

"Why?" Lyra and I asked, jumping in surprise.

"It's our victory dinner!" Leo smiled hugely.

"This is the first time in 56 years, that camp half-blood has won against the hunters!" He looked like a dog that had finally seen its master after a month- dying of excitement. My attention is drawn away by something squawking at my feet impatiently.

"What!?" I asked, bending over and scooping up the small brown dragon. "How did you get here?" I questioned and Festus jumped from my hands to my shoulders, perching himself up proudly.

"Really?" Lyra eyed the dragon nervously. "Camp half-blood hasn't won in that long?"

"Yep, until now!" Leo yelled cheerfully.

"Leo, calm down." Somebody said from behind us. As I went to turn, Lyra smacked my arm so hard I almost cried out in pain- good gods she had a good hit.

"Good job girls." Jax said as he approached us.

"Thanks." Lyra said with a steely gaze, rolling her eyes. I tried not to laugh.

Jax took a step closer to me for comfort. Leo stepped closer to the tree beside him.

"You did really well Katie." ...Oh, he did not just call me Katie.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "Katie? You okay?" Jax asked and I clenched my fists and tried not to freak out. Festus snarled and chomped down on Jax's fingers. "What the?" He smacked Festus's snout angrily. "Stupid lizard, Kate you should keep that thing-"

I swung around angrily and Festus jumped from my shoulder and leaped into Lyra's arms-trying to lick at her face again.

"Don't _ever_ call me Kate or Katie and Festus is a dragon, not a lizard! Don't you ever touch me, him or Lyra, Raven and Safdeisha or I swear to Hephaestus I will have Festus cook you alive." I said, slamming him into one of the trees behind him. Lyra threw Festus at Leo, trying not to laugh as Jax's terrified face. She pried me off of him and sat me down. Jax struggled to say something, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by Leo.

"I'd suggest getting the hell out of here before I let go of the dragon. He doesn't like people who hurt his mother." Leo threatened evilly and Festus snarled again, flicking his tongue. Jax high-tailed it towards the Hermes cabin and I really did feel bad for Lyra. Leo set Festus down and the little dragon jumped onto his usual place on my shoulder.

"Hey Kaylee." A soft voice said from above, I looked up and saw tree boy- I mean Nico.

"We'll just go inside." Lyra said with a casual friendly smile.

"See ya in there." I smiled back at her.

Lyra walked away with Leo. Leo didn't seem to mind walking away with Lyra, but then again she was the perfect target for his womanizing tactics. It was sort of fun having a perverted older brother though. Nico jumped down from the tree and sat down next to me. For some reason, I shivered, even though it wasn't cold and I'm wearing a black sweater.

"Are you... Cold?" Nico asked, looking as though he was about to take his jacket off.

"No, I'm boiling." I admitted.

"Then take off the sweater." He raised an eyebrow and it felt like he was studying my soul. Awkward.

"I can't..." I looked down and Festus nudged my cheek. I smiled and looked back at Nico, his eyes fluttered with a passing confusion. He moved closer to me.

"Why?" His knees were centimetres away from mine.

"Because nobody should ever know about my past, Lyra was the only person who knows and you seem like you are carrying your own demons Nico. You shouldn't have to deal with mine." I wished I could've said... But instead I bit my lip and (Banana? No.) lift Festus off of my shoulder. Nico held out his hands and Festus looked at me then back at Nico, then does the weirdest thing. Festus jumped to tree boy. "Hm. That's surprising."

I slowly began to take off my sweater and prayed to whatever god or goddess that could hide my scars. A sudden wave of darkness flooded over me. Anything for you, my young hero, a woman's voice flowed into my mind and a tingling went up my arms and Nico looked at me.

"You okay?" I realized that I had my sweater half off and was just standing there, staring at nothing.

"Oh, yeah." I said, finally managing to take the sweater off. I braced myself for the millions of questions I was going to be answering.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Nico joked.

"huh?" I looked at my arms; there were no scratches, bruises or scars in sight.

"They're arms, Kaylee, why are you so intrigued by them?" Nico took my hand and somewhere in my mind, fear and pain try to escape. I pushed the feelings back but then another thing pushes itself to my attention.

'Hades, being the god of the underworld, radiates fear and death.' Mrs. Sphine drawled on in my head. I shook my brain into scrambles and I now understood why people didn't hang around Nico too much. But why was I not affected?

"Kaylee?" Nico went to let go of my hand but my grip tightened by itself.

"We should probably go eat." I said and Festus flapped his wings happily and sat on the ground.

"Yeah, Nico looked down, staring at my palm. I frowned. "What happened?" He looked at me, I can see the anger flicker within his darkened eyes.

"Oh, them, um..." I struggled to remember how I did get the strange scars.

"Kaylee! Nico! The victory feast is about to start!" Felix yelled at us and I let go of Nico's hand reluctantly. I grabbed my sweater and pulled it over my head and fit it snugly to my body. Nico extended his hand to pull me up and I took it but stumbled. He tried not to laugh, but he still deserved the punch in the arm that I gave him. I kept my arm in the position and Festus climbed up it. _Every time Nico and I have a moment together it gets interrupted._

Festus sat on my shoulder and spat out a small ball of flames. "GAH!" I yelled, startling myself and Nico. "Festus!" the little brown dragon nudged my cheek and I pat his smooth scaly head.

"Well that was unexpected." Nico said smiling.

"Yeah, really." I said with a laugh. "Remind me to bring you camping" I patted Festus again and he flicked his tongue wildly.

We entered the mess hall and Lyra waved for me to sit with her. I weaved my way through the crowd but just as I go to sit down, the Hephaestus table cheers and I'm grabbed from behind. "What the!?" I jumped and span around to face the person I was about to attack.


End file.
